Jessica Mauboy was lured back to the big screen by a poignant story

Most recently we have seen her on the small screen as a mentor on The Voice Australia, but it took a very special story to bring her back to acting.

"I think what really captured my heart and connected me with the story was the name Windcatcher. And, when I saw the layers of the script, Cressida (her character) sounded so strong. It reminded me of my mother and my aunties, my sisters; reading her and seeing the layers, building her with Tanith (Glynn-Maloney, director), it reminded me of home and aunty responsibilities I feel very close with. I thought 'I wanna be a part of that'."

"When I was introduced to Lennox (Monaghan, as lead Percy Boy) I said, 'I know you'. His smile was so wide - his is an old soul. He's been here before, and I met with his spirit and his soul. It felt like we were brother and sister. Everyone warmed to this young kid. I felt so safe and big and confidant; it was a blessing being a part of his first film."

Mauboy says the child actors drew the adults out of their "adult zone".

"Lennox taught us to sit in the character and just be yourself, don't try too hard. Max Turner (plays Keith Cobb) and Coco (Greenstone, plays Daisy Hawkins), they're a young mob full of their own knowledge; it made our hearts really warm, backing each other up when we forgot our lines. Lennox was teaching me his dance moves; in breaks, he was like 'aunty, can you do this?'.

"Uncle Kelton (Pell, plays Pop) I've always been a fan. Him being a song man, a man of big spirit, I felt at peace with myself in scenes with him. It felt like home.

"Tanith would say tone that down, but she allowed the space to be open for me to create. I felt I had permission to create, to really be the character."

Mauboy says the story takes us back to what it was like when we weren't on our phones, "which we have to be on all the time now, and know what our friends are doing, and to get our news".

"Back then we used to find friends at our job and at school, hang out with friends, support them and be physically there - we were dreaming big, using our imagination. It's important because we have lost the ability to dream ourselves.

"If we can book in time to get back to paper and pen, instead of just scrolling and not talking about our feelings, but writing them down, it brings much more clarity.

"The story is about diversity, bullying, how to make friends, communicate with your family and sitting in quietness."

Mauboy says her role was more about encouraging Lennox.

"I'd be telling him 'you got this, take a breath'; it was being able to be there for him. Boyd (Quakawoot, writer) and Tanith were his big supporters."

She says it is important to be aware of dementia in our elders.

"See the signs, be aware of them, go get checked, make it a priority for your family, get the right help. For aunty and Cressida, she has that responsibility to make sure aunty feels safe, not to take on the anxiety from Cressida, but she needs to have empathy.

"My dad's father had dementia. He only understood his first language (Indonesian), so it was the family's responsibility to know it, to read it, to understand what we could."

Mauboy hopes the audience can perhaps see a family member in aunty and that it opens up the conversation about family and history.

"Perhaps people will see themselves in these characters, and it brings bit by bit healing. I know Percy Boy, I've been there, losing a family member, the responsibility to keep that story alive. A lot of people take those lessons away and sit with them.

"First nations people who practise stories, get them passed on, as they watch him going through taking on that responsibility it's gut wrenching. When he's ready, it's up to him, but he lives through his ancestors and his bloodline.

"He has to discover how to get through it. We see him become more than what he thought he was going to be. We to get to experience that, it's a joy."