Samson and Delilah is a 2009 Australian drama film, written and directed by Warwick Thornton and starring Rowan McNamara and Marissa Gibson, both young first-time actors.

The film depicts two Indigenous Australian 14-year-olds living in a remote Aboriginal community near Alice Springs. Samson is petrol-sniffing, mute boy living in a run-down shelter with his brother’s band who play ska music all day outside his bedroom. Samson is interested in Delilah who lives with her grandmother. When Delilah’s grandmother dies, she and Samson decide to steal a car and escape their difficult lives by going to Alice Springs.

There is a hard-hitting truthfulness to the film however its messages about racial inequality are never preachy or overt but a product of the unflinching bravery with which Thorton captures with his characters and their environment. At once a love story and a brutal portrait of poverty and addiction, this was a film only an indigenous filmmaker could have created. The film won many awards, including the Caméra d'Or at Cannes for best first feature.

Venue: Cleary Hall, The Landmark Centre

Doors 6:20pm / Film 6:45pm.

£7 members / £9 non-members

There will be an interval during the screening, with a cash bar and refreshments.