| Stateless | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Created by |
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| Written by |
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| Directed by | |
| Composer | Cornel Wilczek |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Editors | Mark Atkin Martin Connor |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | 1 March 2020 |
Stateless is an Australian television drama series launched on ABC TV on 1 March 2020. The six episodes were released on Netflix on 8 July 2020.
The series is partly inspired by the real-life story of Cornelia Rau, an Australian who was unlawfully detained under the Australian Government's mandatory detention program.
The show has been criticized for misrepresenting the human rights issue of statelessness and disregarding the experiences of actual stateless people. [1]
The series centres on four strangers in an immigration detention centre in the Australian desert: an airline hostess escaping a suburban cult, an Afghan refugee fleeing persecution, a young Australian father escaping a dead-end job and a bureaucrat caught up in a national scandal. When their lives intersect they are pushed to the brink of sanity, yet unlikely and profound emotional connections are made amongst the group. [2]
After the sixth and final episode, the epilogue states the program was based upon true stories about Australian immigration detention.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [3] | Australia viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Circumstances in Which They Come" | Emma Freeman | Elise McCredie | 1 March 2020 | 441,000 [4] |
| 2 | "Incognita" | Emma Freeman | Elise McCredie | 8 March 2020 | 363,000 [5] |
| 3 | "The Right Thing" | Emma Freeman | Belinda Chayko | 15 March 2020 | 390,000 [6] |
| 4 | "Run Sofie Run" | Jocelyn Moorhouse | Elise McCredie | 22 March 2020 | 430,000 [7] |
| 5 | "Panis Angelicus" | Jocelyn Moorhouse | Belinda Chayko | 29 March 2020 | 409,000 [8] |
| 6 | "The Seventh Circle" | Jocelyn Moorhouse | Elise McCredie | 5 April 2020 | 469,000 [9] |
The series is partly inspired by the real-life story of Cornelia Rau, an Australian who was unlawfully detained under the Australian Government's mandatory detention program. [10]
Blanchett says that the title "refers to statelessness in a more poetic sense, not in a legal, physical sense. It's more about identity and the loss of people's identity when they are faced with long-term detention, when they become a number, when they are dislocated from markers in their life like home and culture, and separated from their families". [11]
The music for the series was composed by Cornel Wilczek. [12]
Stateless had its world premiere at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2020, in the new Series section, along with Mystery Road Series 2. [13] [14]
The Australian television channel ABC premiered the series in Australia soon afterwards, on 1 March 2020. [15] Netflix released the series globally on 8 July 2020. [16] [17] [18]
The script for Episode 6 by Elise McCredie was shortlisted for the Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting at the 2021 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. [19]
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | AACTA Awards | Best Miniseries or Telefeature | Cate Blanchett, Elise McCredie, Tony Ayres, Sheila Jayadev, Paul Ranford, Liz Watts, Andrew Upton | Won | [20] |
| Best Screenplay in Television | Elise McCredie (for "The Circumstances in Which They Come") | Won | |||
| Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama | Fayssal Bazzi | Won | |||
| Jai Courtney | Nominated | ||||
| Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama | Yvonne Strahovski | Won | |||
| Asher Keddie | Nominated | ||||
| Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama | Darren Gilshenan | Won | |||
| Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama | Cate Blanchett | Won | |||
| Best Direction in Television | Emma Freeman | Won | |||
| Jocelyn Moorhouse | Nominated | ||||
| Best Cinematography in Television | Bonnie Elliott (for "The Circumstances in Which They Come") | Won | |||
| Best Editing in Television | Mark Atkin (for "The Circumstances in Which They Come") | Won | |||
| Martin Connor (for "The Seventh") | Nominated | ||||
| Best Sound in Television | Tom Heuzenroeder, Pete Smith, Michael Darren, Des Kenneally (for "The Circumstances in Which They Come") | Won | |||
| Best Original Music Score in Television | Cornel Wilczek (for "The Seventh") | Won | |||
| Best Production Design in Television | Melinda Doring (for "The Circumstances in Which They Come") | Won | |||
| Best Costume Design in Television | Mariot Kerr (for "The Circumstances in Which They Come") | Won | |||