It was shot over 10 years as a boy grows up - facing all the dramas of the teenage years - from the age of six to 16.
But Australia's version of the Oscar-winning film Boyhood, the documentary Zach's Ceremony, tackles a very different story from that Texan drama.
It centres on Zach Doomadgee, an Aboriginal city kid whose sometimes troubled life takes on new meaning after going through an initiation ceremony on his tribal lands in the Northern Territory.
His father, Alec, began filming Zach when he was a free-spirited boy living in suburban Sydney. As he grew up and moved between the city and country, he became confused by his skin colour.
"I'm not black, I'm not white," Zach says in the film. "I'm sort of in the middle ... I feel like I don't know myself."
Since the world premiere at the Hot Docs festival in Canada, director Aaron Petersen's documentary has won the audience award for documentary at both the Sydney and Melbourne film festivals and has been warmly received at the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York and Maoriland Film Festival in New Zealand.
Alec, a boxer, radio broadcaster, actor and filmmaker who became an activist after the death in custody of his cousin Cameron Doomadgee on Palm Island in 2004, says he always planned to make a documentary when he started filming.
"It was about showing the two different worlds that I was living in," he says. "At the time I was living this crazy unique lifestyle where I was in the city working in the media then going home and doing ceremonies.
"I've always wanted to tell the story of how special our ceremonies out bush were and do it in a graceful, respectful manner that elevated the beauty of culture. It evolved into a father and son story because Zach was always with me and the camera loved him. And he'd always want to jump in front of the camera and be silly and carry on."
When Alec saw Boyhood two years ago, he loved it but was upset.
"I got a little bit angry," he says. "I thought 'man, this is what I'm filming. This is my story.' Then I thought 'at least people are going to have a reference point.' When we were in America for screenings, people were going 'Zach's Ceremony is the real-life Boyhood'."
Now an articulate and passionate 18-year-old, Zach goes through tough times in the film including racism, the suicide of a cousin, bullying struggles at a school where he was the only Aboriginal student then clashes with his parents after discovering girls, alcohol and dope.
"I didn't know what I was filming for at the start but as I grew older, dad explained to me what it meant to be Aboriginal," he says. "I saw that this film was going to give my people power and give me power as well.
"I also see it as a tool that I can use to educate some of the kids that are lost in my community. And even kids down in the city that are lost because they're living the city life. I know how hard it was moving to the city and making friends at school."
Led by tribal elders, the initiation ceremony lasted six weeks and covered cultural traditions, dance, painting, making weapons and survival skills.
"It's the roots of who were are," Alec says. "It's basically the history of Indigenous people - the masterclass of the law keepers and the spirit keepers."
The film also shows a universal story about the struggles between a father and a son.
"I always say to Zach that I look it as the Lion King syndrome - the Mufasa??? and Simba??? story," Alec says. "Who takes Pride Rock when Mufasa steps down.
"We still butt heads today and we still argue but we find a respectful, loving way to live with each other and respect each other's boundaries."
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Zach interrupts: "He's kind of acted like an older brother to me so it's that brotherly bond."
Alec corrects him with a laugh: "It's a fatherly bond."
After a cinema season, the plan is for Zach's Ceremony to screen in communities and schools around the country and overseas.
"We're definitely going to the Americas," Alec says. "The film has resonated quite beautifully with the Native Americans and also the Canadian Aboriginal people so there's opportunities for us to do a bit of a roadshow with it."
Alec says he always wanted the film to screen internationally.
"This is a story about Australia," he says. "The story, in essence, tells of our history, our struggles, our current situation and how we can possibly move forward together."
Zach's Ceremony opens on Thursday at Sydney's Dendy Newtown and Melbourne's Cinema Nova.
