documentary / feature

Freedom Stories

album-art
Award for Australian Documentary
Documentary Australia Foundation (2015)
Finalist

From the Sydney Film Festival Website…

“In Freedom Stories, filmmaker Steve Thomas explores the achievements and struggles of a number of former ‘boat people’. Now Australian citizens, they arrived from the Middle East seeking asylum, around 2001. This was the year of the Tampa and PM John Howard’s infamous “We will decide” speech. Some were only children when they found themselves in indefinite mandatory detention in Woomera or Nauru. Thomas captures the determination and resilience of this diverse group, who, a decade on, have rebuilt their lives in Australia. These are ordinary people, caught up in traumatic times, and in this poignant film their voices are finally heard.”

Year:
2015
Director:
Steve Thomas
Producer:
Lisa Horler
Editor:
Uri Mizrahi
Prod Company:
Flying Carpet Films
Broadcaster:
Limited Cinema Release
LINKS:
Freedom Stories - Documentary - Music Composer Brett Aplin

".thoughtful, quietly involving documentary…” “Director Steve Thomas reminds us that when the people taking part in this film arrived in Australia, they were first known not by name, but by number: this film embraces their individuality”

Philippa Hawker
Fairfax papers, 22 July 2015

“It exudes humanism from every pore, and on that score, it’s an unqualified success.”

 Derek Armstrong
Reel Good, 7 July 2015