Leah Purcell

Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, and film director and playwright and novelist, Purcell has won several awards, including a Helpmann, AACTA Award and Asia Pacific Screen Awards Jury Grand Prize.

THE DROVER’S WIFE (2022)

Released 13 May 2022 (UK)

In 1893, heavily pregnant Molly Johnson and her children struggle to survive the harsh Australian landscape after her husband leaves to drove sheep in the high country. One day, she finds an escaped Indigenous Australian convict wounded on her property and an unlikely bond begins to form. Meanwhile, new town lawman Nate Clintoff realises that Molly’s husband is missing and sends his constable to investigate. A thrilling tale that explores racism and misogyny under colonial rule, and a labour of love for director, writer and star Leah Purcell, who adapted Henry Lawson’s short story into a play and a novel.