Firas Naji

This short film aims to tackle very complex social and political issues associated with refugees and asylum seekers by way of drama through the eyes of new generation asylum seekers. Zahra Alsamawi, the director of the film and Osamah Sami, the script writer are both asylum seekers who arrived to Australia as young teens. Today, both work in the film industry and are inspired to show Australia and the world their version of this vital issue. The main points of differentiation of this film from traditional asylum seeker stories are its strong Australian dimension and being away from the stereotypical “tragic refugee stories”.
Zahra Alsamawi, the film director tells a personal story about what’s behind her film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO7OHKrTQ0c&feature=youtu.be

Canberra Says No shows two characters on the receiving end of an asylum seeker boat tragedy; Shane an Australian navy officer and Abbas an Iraqi asylum seeker. Shane is running away from facing his demons through women, alcohol and a tough police job. Abbas, a practising psychologist, lives in the past as if he is still waiting for his daughter and wife to comeback from the bottom of the sea. Both men are in denial, both of them are too afraid to face the painful facts of what had happened then. Finally, Life’s twists and turns force the two men- whose lives were shattered since the incident- face each other in a mind game that turns tables and exposes the truth about what had happened as both men seek closure.

This film is inspired by the SIEV X tragedy, in which three hundred and fifty-three lives of asylum seekers, mostly women and children- were lost when their vessel drowned on its way to Australian shores. Only seven survivors made it to Australia. This single tragic incident accounts for more than half of the total asylum seekers lives lost at sea. This tragedy has been and is being used by politicians to justify stronger boarder security policy and harsher treatment of boat asylum seekers to “prevent loss of life by sea”. One issue though, which is still a controversy and has been raised by humanitarians is whether or not the Australian government knew about SIEV X when it was drowning and failed to act to rescue the boat people. Suspicions of such responsibility in the sinking have never been fully investigated.

We will work with grass roots community groups to run an effective media campaign to maximise mainstream media coverage on this film and the issues around asylum seekers. Our aim is to shift the public debate from targeting asylum seekers on the basis of national security and border protection, into the core issues of Australia’s international obligations to protect the human rights of all asylum seekers and refugees who arrive in Australia. This way, we will achieve our message whilst delivering an excitable and entertaining film for our audience.

Some of SIEV X resources:
http://www.metromagazine.com.au/hope/index.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3574870.html

You can keep up to date with our facebook webpage https://www.facebook.com/CanberraSaysNO

Completing the script, $1,500

Cast and crew, $8,000

Equipment hire, $2000

Film production including special effects, props & costumes, locations and catering, $4,000

Post film production including editing, music, sound and colour grading, $3,000

Insurance, $1,500

The film is very well planned and beatline for the script has been completed. The main challenge is raising funds. A minimum of $15,000 is required to complete this film production. $20,000 means maintaining high production values.