Like My Brother, the new film from Sal Balharrie and Danielle MacLean, is a sports documentary that doesn’t neatly fit the typical mold of its genre.

While many sports documentaries follow a familiar trajectory - following a young athlete chasing a dream, showing their rise to success, and ending with a triumphant moment - Like My Brother takes a different, more nuanced approach. It’s a film about sport, yes, but also about women in sport, cultural identity, defining success on your own terms, and much more.

The documentary follows four women from the Tiwi Islands - Rina, Freda, Julianna, and Jess - as they journey to Melbourne, hoping to make a name for themselves in the Australian Football League Women’s (AFLW).

(From left) Freda, Rina and Jess from Like My Brother. Source: Mushroom Studios

The idea for the film sparked for co-director Sal Balharrie when her son asked her to take him to an AFLW game.

“On February 6, 2017, my son came home and asked me to drive him across town to the very first AFLW game. It was a stinking hot day, and we lived about an hour away, so I said no. He responded, Oh, that’s so disappointing. You raised me to be a feminist,” Sal says. “And he pressed the perfect button, so off we went.”

At the game, Sal saw the excitement and skill on the field, with her son and his friends appreciating the athletes' talents without focusing on their gender. But as she sat there, she was struck by the overwhelming "whiteness" of the game.

“I knew about the Tiwi Islands and their strong football heritage, with players like Michael Long and the Rioli brothers. But I wondered: What would it take for a young woman from the Tiwi to make it here? And that’s when the idea for the film came to me.”

A still from Like My Brother. Source: Mushroom Studios

The film, which took seven years to make, evolved in ways Sal never anticipated. “At the start, I thought I’d be finished in 18 months with a girl holding a trophy at the end. I honestly thought it would be that simple. In hindsight, I’m embarrassed to say that, because it was naive,” Sal admits.

“I think the film is richer for having followed the girls over such a long period. As you see, the obstacles unfold over time, and while I never expected to feel grateful for COVID, it did force us all to slow down and reassess. It gave the film a gentler, more reflective pace.”

While Like My Brother begins as a sports documentary, it quickly becomes something far more complex. The film explores how these women define success. Is it worth pursuing a career in AFL if it means constant separation from family and community? In Western culture, chasing the big stage is often seen as the ultimate achievement, but for these women - family, culture, and community hold equal, if not greater, significance.

The women from the Tiwi Islands have their own set of values - values that make them question whether fame and glory are worth leaving behind the bonds of their tight-knit community. And the film explores this tension between different cultural definitions of success, as the women are forced to decide what truly matters to them.

Sal discusses one of the women in the film, Reena, saying: “She is one of the greatest footballers you’ll ever see. But did she want it badly enough? Not if it meant turning her back on her community. It’s such a big question - how do we define success for ourselves? What does failure mean? How many dollars do we need in the bank to be happy?”

This shift in focus - from the sport itself to the broader cultural and personal dilemmas facing these women - sets Like My Brother apart. It not only highlights a lesser-known football culture in the Tiwi Islands but also delves into the importance of community, ceremony, and cultural connection. The film suggests that the emotional and spiritual fulfilment these women gain from their culture might be more rewarding than the accolades of an AFL career.

In the end, Like My Brother is a layered, complex sports documentary. It’s not just about sport. It’s about the lives of these women, the challenges they face, and how they navigate competing ideas of success, limited opportunities in sport, the weight of cultural identity, and the personal choices that define us.

The film will have its first screening at Huskisson Pictures on February 9, at 2 p.m., as part of the Shoalhaven First Nations Film Festival.

Poster for Like My Brother. Source: Mushroom Studios