Documentary Confronts Controversial Australian Asylum Policy
Documentary Confronts Controversial Australian Asylum Policy SYDNEY— A documentary highlighting Australia’s hardline policy of detaining asylum seekers in offshore processing centers by Oscar-winning film-maker Eva Orner opens in Melbourne Thursday. Described by one reviewer as a “90-minute compendium of shame,” the film explores the frustration and tragedy of detainees held at Australian-run camps. Chasing Asylum penetrates the secret world of Australian-run detention camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on the tiny South Pacific island nation of Nauru. At the heart of the documentary is never-before-seen footage that was secretly recorded inside the offshore centers. On camera, detainees explain why they have sought asylum and detail their endless sense of despair at being locked away. The media is banned from visiting the camps, but Eva Orner, an Australian filmmaker based in Los Angeles, says she was determined to find a way to expose the truth about the detention f