Forgotten Bird of Paradise | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Directed by | Dominic Brown |
Produced by | Dancing Turtle Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 27 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Forgotten Bird of Paradise is a 2009 documentary film directed by British filmmaker Dominic Brown, about the struggle for independence being fought in the Indonesian region of West Papua. [1] The film was shot undercover, and includes interviews with human rights victims and political prisoners, as well as footage of separatist guerrillas at their jungle stronghold.
Brown travelled and filmed in West Papua without the permission of the Indonesian authorities, putting himself in great danger. [2] Brown reflected that on West Papua the situation was "like apartheid", and likened the transmigration program and anti-secession policies to "genocide". [3]
The documentary features an interview conducted with Yusak Pakage, a high-profile West Papuan political prisoner recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. He is currently serving a ten-year prison sentence for raising the West Papuan flag during a ceremony in 2004. The interview was recorded in secret by Brown during a hospital visit where Pakage was receiving treatment for torture.
There is also footage from a National Liberation Army (TPN) camp led by one of the armed resistance leaders, General Goliath Tabuni. In addition, the documentary provides viewers with an insight into recent developments on the international arena towards West Papuan self-determination, including the launch of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua.
The Morning Star flag was a flag used in a supplemental fashion on Netherlands New Guinea to the flag of the Netherlands. It was first raised on 1 December 1961 prior to the territory coming under administration of the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA) on 1 October 1962.
Sean Harris is an English actor and writer. He played Ian Curtis in 24 Hour Party People (2002), Micheletto Corella in The Borgias (2011–2013), Fifield in Prometheus (2012), Solomon Lane in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), Philip in Possum (2018), William Gascoigne in The King (2019) and Henry Peter Teague / Peter Morley in The Stranger (2022).
The Road to Guantánamo, alternatively The Road to Guantanamo, is a British 2006 docudrama film written and directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross about the incarceration of three British citizens, who were captured in 2001 in Afghanistan and detained by the United States there and for more than two years at the detainment camp in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. It premiered at the Berlinale on 14 February 2006, and was first shown in the UK on Channel 4 on 9 March 2006. The following day it was the first film to be released simultaneously in cinemas, on DVD, and on the Internet.
Black Gold is a 2006 documentary film that follows the efforts of an Ethiopian coffee union manager as he travels the world to obtain a better price for his workers' coffee beans. The film was directed and produced by Marc James Francis and Nick Francis from Speakit Films, and co-produced by Christopher Hird. It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
John Paul Sweeney is a British investigative journalist and writer. He worked for The Observer newspaper, and the BBC's Panorama and Newsnight series. Sweeney ceased working for the BBC in October 2019.
Suri Krishnamma is a British film director and writer best known for feature films A Man of No Importance, New Year's Day and Dark Tourist and television dramas A Respectable Trade and The Cazalets. He has a number of festival awards, including 3 BAFTA nominations.
The Tiscali Short Film Award is a major short film award, sponsored by Tiscali and presented at the Raindance Film Festival each year since 2005 to the "best UK short under 10 minutes by a debut filmmaker".
Stuart Hazeldine is a British screenwriter, film producer and director. He is best known for his 2009 psychological thriller Exam, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. He also directed the 2017 film adaptation of William P. Young's novel The Shack. He currently resides in London.
Benny Wenda is a West Papuan independence leader and Chairman of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). He is an international lobbyist for the independence of West Papua from Indonesia. He lives in exile in the United Kingdom. In 2003 he was granted political asylum by the British government following his escape from custody while on trial.
Rettet die Naturvölker (Save the nature peoples), also known as Friends of People Close to Nature (fPcN) or fPcN interCultural, founded in Ludwigslust in 1991 as Freunde der Naturvölker, is a non-governmental European human rights organization that works in the field of indigenous rights. Campaigns are carried out on a global level, with members traveling to East Africa, the Amazon Rainforest and the Philippines.
The East End Film Festival was one of the UK's largest film festivals. It ceased all operations on 4 March 2020. The owner, Alison Poltock, explained that "the push to provide a more mainstream commercial offering is not for us."
Tara Sutton is a Canadian journalist and filmmaker whose work in conflict zones has received many awards. She was one of the first international television correspondents to both produce and shoot their own reports and is a pioneer in the field of "video journalism".
Special When Lit is a feature length documentary film about pinball written and directed by Brett Sullivan. The film is produced by Steam Motion and Sound.
Dominic Brown is an English independent documentary filmmaker, based in London.
Filep Jacob Semuel Karma was a West Papua independence activist. On 1 December 2004, he helped raise the Morning Star flag at a ceremony in Jayapura, for which he was charged with treason and given a fifteen-year prison sentence. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch protested on his behalf, the former designating him a prisoner of conscience. He was released on 19 November 2015.
Kobarweng or Where Is Your Helicopter? (1992) is a short documentary directed by Johan Grimonprez that deals with the history of a remote village in the highlands of New Guinea. The videotape assembles archival footage and oral histories depicting the first encounter between the Irian Jaya people and the scientific crew, including anthropologists, of the Dutch Star Mountains Expedition. The confrontation with the crew and their helicopter caused a shock that threw the worldview of the villagers upside down.
James Martin Brabazon, is a British documentary filmmaker, journalist, and author.
The Road to Home is a 2015 feature-length documentary about Benny Wenda, the West Papuan independence leader and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Since his dramatic escape from an Indonesian prison in 2002, where he was held in isolation and tortured as a political prisoner, Benny has been an unceasing crusader on the international scene, campaigning to bring about an end to the suffering of his people at the hands of Indonesia’s colonial regime.
Sacred Sperm is a 2014 Israeli documentary film directed by Ori Gruder, exploring the taboo of masturbation in Judaism. The TV version of the film world premiered at the 22nd Raindance Film Festival in October 2014 and was nominated in the short documentary film category at the end of 2014 Ophir Awards. The theatrical long version of the movie premiered at the 30th Santa Barbara Film Festival in February 2015. The Eastern Europe Premier was at the 55th Kraków International Film Festival mid 2015. This movie won the Accolade Global Film Competition - Award of Excellence at December 2014 and took the first prize Best Documentary at the 18th Religion Today Int' film festival in Italy at October 2015 and has been screened at more than 30 film festivals worldwide. The educational channel of Sweden screened the film during 2015 and it was chosen to be in the 10th most popular films of the year. Since the TV version became online In Israel itself already more than half a million viewers watched it through Hot, ynet and VOD options.
David Bowie: Sound and Vision is a 2002 documentary film about the English musician, made by the American television network A&E for their long running documentary television series and media franchise Biography. It was first broadcast on A&E on 4 November 2002. It was released as a DVD the following year.