Australian docuseries “2.6 Seconds: Death in the Outback,” which world premiere at Toronto Sept. 10 as part of TIFF‘s Primetime strand, has just been the subject of a preemptive Netflix buy for the world.
That speaks well for a four-part series examining the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker by Northern Territory police officer Zachary Rolfe in the remote community of Yuendumu, tracing how the 2.6 seconds between the first shot and the last upended the lives of those involved as well as the national discourse.
In his directorial debut, Darren Dale uses archival footage, courtroom testimony and intimate interviews with both families to reconstruct the case from multiple perspectives.
“Primetime introduces audiences to the best in global, episodic storytelling,” said Geoff Macnaughton, TIFF’s VP of market programming and theatrical. “International programmer Jason Ryle discovered ‘2.6 Seconds’ during the summer. We’ve programmed other Blackfella Films productions at TIFF, including ‘Total Control’ in 2019, which went on to win best TV drama at the AACTA Awards. We’re excited to see how audiences respond to ‘2.6 Seconds’ this September.”
Variety spoke with Dale about making the series and what he hopes international audiences take away from it.
What led to your covering this case? And what did filming the series reveal to you about Australia?
The series centers around a moment, expanded over four episodes. How did you decide what needed to be unpacked in order for an audience to understand what happened in that moment?
You’ve spent most of your career as a producer. What put you in the director’s chair for the first time?
For an international audience who knows nothing about Kumanjayi, what do you hope they take away?
