With the world premiere of his feature documentary Ablaze set for August 10 at the Melbourne International Film Festival, we chat to Alec Morgan about the 6-year film project, what inspires him and more.

1. Tell us a bit about your latest project
Ablaze is a feature documentary in which Melbourne opera singer Tiriki Onus seeks to uncover the mystery surrounding an untitled 70-year-old silent movie discovered inside a vault – possibly made by his grandfather William ‘Bill’ Onus – a charismatic Aboriginal leader, entrepreneur, impresario, television host and cultural trailblazer. Yet, there’s much about him that Tiriki doesn’t know. He is astonished to learn from the silent footage that Bill was a theatre impresario and just might be the first Aboriginal filmmaker. You can watch the trailer here.

2. How did you originally become interested in your area of research?
I specialise in Australian visual history, especially Indigenous history – therefore, I have accumulated a vast knowledge of archival film collections. In 2014, while researching the National Film and Sound Archives, I discovered the ‘lost’ film. I recognised Bill Onus in it. I contacted Tiriki Onus to see if he knew anything about it. He didn’t. We collaborated to make the documentary. The research questions were: did Bill Onus make this film and was he the first Aboriginal filmmaker? I find the detective work in original research is what keeps me very interested.

3. What is your proudest achievement?
I am incredibly proud of completing Ablaze. The research took a long time and I am deeply grateful to Macquarie University for awarding me a post-doctorate research fellowship that enabled me to focus full-time on bringing this story to the world.

4. Outside your own, what area of work or research in the Faculty of Arts inspires or intrigues you?
Having the ongoing support of my colleagues in media, screen production, history and Indigenous studies. I find the Faculty environment very stimulating. Inspiring.

5. What would people be surprised to know about you or your work?
How much I love my research and film work. Ablaze took nearly six years to make and most of that period was very enjoyable. Uncovering new knowledge and shaping that knowledge into a form that is accessible to wide audiences here and internationally is immensely rewarding.