First Nations rom-com brings Arnhem Land love story to Sydney Film Festival, with nod to Romeo and Juliet

Sat 6 Jun 2026 at 8:39am

An Indigenous woman looks to her left, a young shirtless man painted with traditional white ochre stands beside her. — Denzel Marika and Cindy Rostron play young lovers in Maŋutji (Catching Eyes), which was shot in East Arnhem Land. (Supplied: Greg Spiller)

In short:

Maŋutji (Catching Eyes), a short film shot in the Arnhem Land community of Yirrkala, is making its debut at the Sydney Film Festival.

The romantic comedy stars model Cindy Rostron and first-time actor Denzel Marika, who play love interests Muthali and Rakay.

What's next?

Maŋutji is one of five films screening at the festival today that were created after a nation-wide call-out for First Nations stories about love.

In her home of Yirrkala in the Northern Territory's far north-east, Siena Mayutu Wurmarri Stubbs knows romance can be like football: a spectator sport.

"If the community knows that you are allowed to date someone through Gurrutu [Yolŋu kinship] … and you are perceived in public together, that confirms that you are a thing," she said.

The budding love between two football players, and the interest it attracts from their gossiping peers in north-east Arnhem Land, is the subject of a new short film written and directed by Stubbs premiering at the Sydney Film Festival (SFF) this week.

A young Indigenous man with frizzy hair walks along a road shirtless, holding a speared fish by his side. — The film, debuting in Sydney this week, is Denzel Marika's first acting role. (Supplied: Jack Bullen)

"It's about being perceived — who you want to commit your true self to, knowing when you can and being brave enough to release yourself to that form of love in the public eye," Stubbs said.

The romantic comedy, called Maŋutji (Catching Eyes), marks Stubbs's debut as a writer and director.

The word Maŋutji has multiple meanings in Yolŋu-Matha, alluding to the association between a glance and a love interest.

"Maŋutji can literally mean 'eye' … but maŋutji is also a code word, or slang, for your crush,"

Stubbs said.

Pointing to her own eye, she explains: "So this is the sign language for your lover".

Two Indigenous women walking along the beach, they are chatting to each other and smiling. — Libby Collins and Siena Mayutu Wurmarri Stubbs worked together to bring the short film to life. (ABC News: Dane Hirst)

A nod to Romeo and Juliet

Written and performed in Yolŋu-Matha, Stubbs's rom-com stars Bununggu and Warraingu model Cindy Rostron and local football idol Denzel Marika.

Rostron and Marika play Muthali and Rakay, with their loved-up characters all side-eyes, smiles and whispers.

Maŋutji producer Libby Collins said finding the two lead actors had been "really exciting".

Two young Aboriginal actors, a woman and a man, looking at the camera while sitting on a bench. — Cindy Rostron and Denzel Marika star as the loved-up leads in Maŋutji (Catching Eyes). (Supplied: Jack Bullen)

"[Rostron] is obviously an incredible performer … She learned Yolŋu-Matha in like three days to do this role," she said.

"[Marika] is a local Rirratjiŋu man, a gun footballer, turns out an epic actor, he really smashed it."

Collins said one of her favourite scenes in the short film was a tribute to Baz Luhrmann's famous screen adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

"The fish tank scene, there's a little Yolŋu nod to that," she said.

A screenshot from a film shows two characters looking at each other through the glass of a fish tank. — The romantic comedy features a Yolŋu nod to the fish tank scene in the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet. (Twentieth Century Fox: Romeo + Juliet)

Bringing Yirrkala to the big screen

Maŋutji is one of five short films from First Nations filmmakers that will be screening together at the SFF today as part of the festival's Proper Loved Up collection.

The films are the product of a nation-wide call-out for First Nations stories about love, with the five teams awarded $152,000 each in grant funding from Screen Australia, NITV, the ABC and various state and territory governments.

Maŋutji is also up for the SFF's best live action short and best First Nations film awards.

A young Indigenous woman looks over her left shoulder towards a shirtless man standing behind her. — The short film tells the story of two young lovers in Yirrkala. (Supplied: Greg Spiller)

Collins said the cost of producing films in the Northern Territory was a barrier to local filmmaking, but that Maŋutji couldn't have been made anywhere other than in Yirrkala.

"We were always going to be on that oval, and we were always going to use real examples of Siena's life in community,"

she said.

"For one day for it to be more accessible to be able to tell our stories, where we come from, is the dream, because we don't want to tell them anywhere else."