By Caroline Smith
In the high-profile debate on asylum seekers, or ‘boat people’, one vital element is missing, according to filmmaker Steve Thomas – it is the voice of the people who have sought asylum themselves.
Thomas’ recent film Freedom Stories seeks to rectify this with the tales of 12 people who have found refuge in Australia, and he says it is about time the rest of society heard about their experiences.
“It’s extremely important to hear these people’s stories, because theirs are the voices missing from the debate,” he said.
Thomas first became interested in the issue during the making of 2004 film Welcome to Woomera, through his encounters with people at the nearby detention centre.
“It was clear that they were not posing a threat to Australia, as is often claimed,” he said.
“Instead, they were people with dreams and aspirations similar to my own, and individuals who had suffered greatly.”
Despite his interest, Thomas said he was often prevented from speaking to detainees at Woomera, and he maintains that similar restrictions make it hard for Australian people to see beyond the headlines when it comes to asylum seekers.
“The prevention of communication with these people and their stories is something that really angers me,” he said.
Nevertheless, he continued to focus on the issue with films such as 2008’s Hope, about Amal Basry, a woman who survived the sinking of asylum seeker boat Siev X, but later died of cancer after settling in Melbourne.
For Freedom Stories, Thomas collaborated with producer Lisa Horler in profiling 12 people and their journeys from detention to living in the wider community, finding work and a sense of belonging in a new country.
They include car mechanic Mustafa, who moved from Afghanistan to Canberra; Jamila, who is studying International and Developmental Studies in Adelaide; and Arif, who runs a construction company in Melbourne.
In hearing these stories, Thomas said he was struck by both the harshness of people’s experiences and the lack of bitterness they have shown to them, adding that he hoped the film would create and change attitudes in people’s perception of asylum seekers.
“As soon as you recognise the human face in people, it’s hard to maintain prejudice against them,” he said.
“But I also wanted to avoid replacing one set of stereotypes with another – I’m not trying to lionise these people or turn them into heroes.
“Instead, we’ve looked at different stories and sometimes conflicting responses to similar experiences: we’ve tried to maintain the particularity of these stories.”
Freedom Stories was first screened in November 2015, through a collaboration between Luna Palace cinemas, Steve Thomas and the Asylum Seeker Education Network. The Network is a group of local service providers – including MercyCare – involved with asylum seekers and academics at Murdoch and Curtin Universities.
MercyCare Mission and Culture Team member Brenda Lee said the film reflected the courage of those who had survived the asylum seeker journey.
“Each person’s human account bears testament to the resilience of the human spirit, having undergone extreme conditions and uncertainty,” she said.
“It is important to reflect that not all have survived – each person in the documentary has lived through to share their stories.”
The film is set for release in DVD format by April this year: more information on this and other screening times nationally is available at http://freedomstoriesproject.com or at https://www.facebook.com/freedomstoriesproject.