About the Project
Taking Mum Home is a feature documentary written and directed by Daen Sansbury-Smith, co-produced by Blak Crow / Adjadura Studio, Tamarind Tree Pictures, and producer Anna Grieve.
The film follows Daen’s deeply personal and cultural journey to bring his mother’s story and spirit home — reconnecting generations through memory, Country, and belonging.
Filmed across Melbourne, regional Victoria along the Wimmera River, Adelaide, and Yorke Peninsula including Point Pearce, the story unfolds across the lands that shaped Daen’s family and identity.
At its core, Taking Mum Home is an intergenerational act of remembrance and renewal — a creative return that honours the strength and resilience of Aboriginal families, while revealing how art, story, and Country remain deeply intertwined.
Creative Process
This evolving project connects four generations of Daen’s family:
his children, the youngest generation carrying the stories forward;
himself, as the filmmaker and storyteller;
his mother, whose spirit guides the journey and who was the author of the family storybook Taking Mum Home, written while completing her PhD;
and his nana, whose lived memories anchor the family’s connection to Country.
The film also draws upon archival audio recordings featuring Daen’s great-grandmother and her siblings, who spoke about “the old days” on Point Pearce.
These priceless voices, combined with family photographs, letters, journals, and publications from national archivesand the personal book collections of Daen and his mum, are being carefully revisited to build the fullest picture possible of family history, identity, and cultural continuity.
Filming continues across generations and places, blending documentary realism, creative re-enactment, and immersive sound design.
The process itself has become a living archive — an ongoing act of cultural reclamation through film, story, and memory.
From the Artist — Daen Sansbury-Smith
Taking Mum Home is my family’s story — one of return, healing, and reconnection.
It connects four generations: my children, myself, my mum, and my nana — and reaches even further through the voices of my great-grandmother and her siblings.
My mum had been writing a book her entire life — she called it Taking Mum Home.
It was her way of piecing together our family’s story, combining truth, research, and love as she completed her PhD.
During COVID, I said to her, “Let me make a documentary that builds on your work — let’s tell this story together.”
And here we are.
This film continues her legacy, guided by her spirit and by the stories that live within Country. Each location, each archive, and each memory is another step home — a reminder that creativity can be ceremony, and that through storytelling, we keep our ancestors close.
Community & Partners
An ongoing project by Blak Crow / Adjadura Studio
Co-produced with Tamarind Tree Pictures and Anna Grieve
Filmed across Melbourne, regional Victoria (Wimmera River), Adelaide, and Yorke Peninsula including Point Pearce (Guuranda)
In collaboration with Our Peoples Foundation (OPF) — ensuring cultural governance, archival care, and future community access.
Taking Mum Home continues to evolve as both a personal documentary and a family-led cultural archive, honouring the power of intergenerational storytelling, truth-telling, and the unbroken continuity of memory across time and Country.
