This year marks 50 years since Aboriginal activists decided enough was enough and made a stand on the lawns opposite federal Parliament House.

Their protest, sparked by the McMahon government's opposition to First Nations land rights, is now known as the longest continuous protest in history.

It began in 1972 when a small number of Aboriginal activists set up a beach umbrella on Ngunnawal Country, outside what is now referred to as Old Parliament House, in Canberra.

As part of celebrating its 50-year anniversary, new documentary Still We Rise celebrates the iconic event by providing much needed context through archival footage and images.

Writer and director John Harvey wanted to ensure the Aboriginal voice shined through in the film.

An Indigenous man hailing from Saibai Island, Harvey said it was important to him for the documentary to feel natural.

"As an Indigenous filmmaker that's always the point of view where I'm coming from…this is archival material, it has historical value to it," he said.

"Often the way this is captured, it's often from a non-Indigenous point of view.

"And so I wanted to really interrogate the material and I think we kind of naturally kind of do that as well, as Indigenous people we look at it in a particular way."

Harvey said what really formed his creative direction on the film was his talks with Gumbainggir man Gary Foley, one of the original activists from 1972.

From their conversations Harvey saw the importance of writing the documentary in a way that informed audience members of the context around the event.

"That's been an important part, both the context around why the embassy was established, but also you know issues in terms of land rights that the embassy was looking at, and the issues of land rights on a national perspective," he said.

"Those voices were happening right across the country, kind being echoed together in Canberra with a tent embassy.

"And that was an important aspect of this film, was to show that."

Foley, now a professor of history, said he has great admiration for this project.

"It took 50 years for Indigenous filmmakers to even have the artistic and freedom and opportunity to do this," he said.

"I mean back in the day, Indigenous filmmakers for all intents and purposes didn't exist."

Foley reflected on how the Tent Embassy in 1972 came to a head from a build-up of events.

"The embassy was a product of a certain national movement that had developed in the late '60s, early '70s in Aboriginal communities," he said.

"A movement sometimes called self-determination, sometimes called the Black Power movement.

"But it's important to understand the embassy in that context because there were a multitude of contributing factors that led to the emergence of the embassy and ultimately it's historical significance."

Still We Rise premieres Thursday, December 8, at 8:30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.