Sending a strong refugee message
A sell-out crowd of around 200, a standing ovation and a moving documentary about education, hope, humanity and the power of collective will — that was the extraordinary experience of Southern Highland locals lucky enough to gain tickets to The Staging Post on June 18.
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The event was held at the Empire Cinema.
To celebrate the start of Refugee Week, the director of the film, Jolyon Hoff and the film’s two stars and co-creators, Hazara refugees Muzafar Ali (a photographer now living in Adelaide) and Khadim Dai (now a film-maker in the United States) provided the audience, which ranged in age from nine to almost 99 years, with an extraordinary question and answer session after the film.
They talked about their empowering experience of starting a school for refugee children when they were stuck in Indonesia, after Australia “stopped the boats”.
Audience members said they were “glued to their seats” and “could barely breathe” throughout the film, because it was so powerfully and beautifully made.
Convenor of Rural Australians Refugees Southern Highlands (RARsh), Maree Byrne, was thrilled with the crowd.
Maree said dozens of people had to be turned away on the night due to strong ticket sales, which evidences the huge goodwill towards refugees in the Southern Highlands community and our desire to reach out and provide welcome to those in need.
She said community screenings could still be arranged via the website, and the DVD is available for purchase.
Several school teachers from various schools in the area were so impressed with the uplifting and powerful message in the film that they approached the film-makers afterwards to arrange for it to be shown to their students.
Refugee Week ran from June 17– 23 and aimed to inform the public about refugees and celebrate their positive contribution to Australian Society.