Senior Library Books
Resource Key
LEVEL 1
brief, basic information laid out in an easy-to-read format. May use informal language. (Includes most news articles)
LEVEL 2
provides additional background information and further reading. Introduces some subject-specific language.
LEVEL 3
lengthy, detailed information. Frequently uses technical/subject-specific language. (Includes most analytical articles)
Introduction
Welcome to the Chasing Asylum research guide. This guide explores the issues surrounding asylum seekers and documentary style to support the Year 11 Media Production and Analysis students studying Chasing Asylum.
"CHASING ASYLUM exposes the real impact of Australia’s offshore detention policies and explores how 'The Lucky Country' became a country where leaders choose detention over compassion and governments deprive the desperate of their basic human rights.
The film features never before seen footage from inside Australia’s offshore detention camps, revealing the personal impact of sending those in search of a safe home to languish in limbo.
CHASING ASYLUM explores the mental, physical and fiscal consequences of Australia’s decision to lock away families in unsanitary conditions hidden from media scrutiny, destroying their lives under the pretext of saving them."
Chasing Asylum Trailer
Orner, E. (Director, Producer). (2016). Chasing Asylum [Documentary]. AUS: Nerdy Girly Films
Summary
- Chasing Asylum. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.chasingasylum.com.au/about
The Chasing Asylum website provides information about the documentary including the synopsis, background, trailers, gallery and taking action. - Schenkel, H. (2016, October 18). Chasing Asylum. Retrieved from https://issuu.com/atompublications/docs/2_-_schenkel_chasing_asylum
Taking an apologist stance towards questionable government action, done ostensibly for the nation's protection and in its best interests, is not difficult when such atrocities are kept under wraps. However, seeing firsthand the ramifications of such action, not just on the 'victims' but also on everyday Australians, stirs our political consciousness - and this is precisely what Eva Orner has achieved in capturing the plight of refugees in her revelatory documentary, writes Hanna Schenkel.
Eva Orner (Director & Producer)
- Orner, E. (2016). 'By far the hardest film I've ever made': Eva Orner on Chasing Asylum – Guardian Australia culture podcast'. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/culture/audio/2016/may/31/by-far-the-hardest-film-ive-ever-made-eva-orner-on-chasing-
Film critic Luke Buckmaster speaks with Chasing Asylum director Eva Orner and Guardian Australia reporter Melissa Davey after a screening of the documentary for Guardian Australia’s Film Club. They discuss safeguarding sources, why Orner decided to show security guards’ faces and how the film’s release strategy was designed to avoid government interference. - Clift, T. (2016, May 20). What the government doesn't want you to see: Director Eva Orner talks Chasing Asylum. Retrieved from http://concreteplayground.com/sydney/arts-entertainment/film/what-the-government-doesnt-want-you-to-see-director-eva-orner-talksSitting down for our interview with director Eva Orner, it's hard not to think about the grimly fortuitous timing. Less than 24 hours earlier, a young Somali refugee set herself ablaze on Nauru. It's the second case of self-immolation at the centre in less than a week, following the suicide of Omid Masoumali just a few days before.
Director Ivan O'Mahoney
The Feed. (2016, June 9). Eva Orner talks Chasing Asylum [Interview]. AUS: SBS
Awards
- IMDB. (2017). Chasing Asylum awards. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5134588/awardsGo Back To Where You Came From awards:
2016 - Won AACTA Best Feature Length Documentary
2016 - Nominated London Film Festival Documentary Film
2017 - Won Australian Film Institute Best Feature Length Documentary. - The West Australian. (2016, June 4). Movie of the week.Anyone who follows the news won’t be surprised to learn that asylum seekers and refugees are living in appalling conditions on Manus Island and Nauru. However, it’s not until you see Eva Orner’s searing documentary Chasing Asylum that you will fully grasp how inhumane is the treatment of those who arrive on our shores seeking a new life.
Reviews
- Naglazas, M. (2016, June 2). Behind the razor line. The West AustralianDocumentary reveals the awful truth of detention centres, writes Mark Naglazas.
Since the Howard government established the so-called Pacific Solution — that is, the policy of transporting asylum seekers to Pacific island nations to dissuade them from getting on boats — we’ve been hearing how poorly those desperate to call Australia home are being treated.
“We should see asylum seekers not as criminals or a burden or potential terrorists but as a resource to enrich our country.” Orner. - Kroenert, T. (2016, May 8). Inside Nauru nightmare. Eureka Street.With Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court of Justice finding last month that the detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island was unconstitutional, the shamefulness of Australia's border protection policies was once again laid bare.
As if we needed further proof, on the heels of those developments comes Chasing Asylum, a new documentary from Australian filmmaker Eva Orner. Orner served as producer on Alex Gibney's Oscar-winning 2007 documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, about American interrogation practices during the war in Afghanistan. Now she turns her eye to the experiences of detainees on Manus and Nauru. - Schenkel, H. (2016). Bloody un-Australian. Metro, (190), 74-79.Taking an apologist stance towards questionable government action, done ostensibly for the nation's protection and in its best interests, is not difficult when such atrocities are kept under wraps. However, seeing firsthand the ramifications of such action, not just on the 'victims' but also on everyday Australians, stirs our political consciousness — and this is precisely what Eva Orner has achieved in capturing the plight of refugees in her revelatory documentary, writes Hanna Schenkel.
- Orner, E, & Glass, S. (2016, December 3). What politicians don't want themselves to see. Age, The (Melbourne). p. 28.Chasing Asylum shows us the real impact of Australia's offshore detention policies. It features footage secretly obtained from inside the offshore detention camps. It makes us witness to the mental, physical and fiscal consequences of Australia's decision to lock away refugees and asylum seekers in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, hidden from media scrutiny, destroying their lives under the pretext of saving them. There could not be a more eloquent or forceful admission of the tragic failure and futility of offshore detention as a means of deterring people from seeking protection from persecution.