Ten Canoes
“Ten canoes, three wives, one hundred and fifty spears...trouble”
Synopsis
Set in Australia's Northern Territory, the film features an Aboriginal narrator recounting a story about his ancestors during a goose hunt. Within this narrative, a young hunter is tempted into an adulterous relationship with his elder brother's wife, prompting an elder to tell him a story from the mythical past. This inner story illustrates how evil can infiltrate and cause chaos unless countered by virtue, as dictated by customary tribal law.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 15
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Tania NehmeShot by Ian JonesDesigned by Beverley Freeman
Box Office
2006 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.1× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$300K
Also known as
- 10 Kanus, 150 Speere und 3 Frauende
- 10 Canoases
- 10 canoés, 150 lances et 3 épousesfr
- 10 canoeit
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Cast & Crew
15 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Crusoe Kurddal
as Ridjimiraril
Jamie Gulpilil
as Yeeralparil
Richard Birrinbirrin
as Birrinbirrin
Peter Minygululu
as Minygululu
Frances Djulibing
as Nowalingu
David Gulpilil
as The Storyteller
Sonia Djarrabalminym
as Banalandju
Cassandra Malangarri Baker
as Munandjarra
Philip Gudthaykudthay
as The Sorcerer
Peter Djigirr
as Warrior
Directors
2Writers
1Producers
2Other crew
3Parents Guide
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