Current Production
The World Ended on Mango Street
Set to Release Early 2017
Click Here to visit the Official Website of the Film
The World Ended on Mango Street is about a Grandson trying to piece the long-kept secret of his dead Grandmother, Yvonne Holman. Thomas Watson knows his grandmother spent several years in a Japanese Concentration Camp in Indonesia during WWII. However, his grandmother never spoke about her experience and when she passed-away many unanswered questions were left which continue to haunt the family. It was not until he met filmmaker Jean-Baptiste Breliere that he realised how necessary it was to answer the questions his grandmother left. They decided to make a documentary.
They turn to the family to find out what they knew. This quest is frustrated by the family’s fear of reopening the wound Yvonne fought so hard to recover from. The two decide to travel to Lampersari concentration camp, in Indonesia, where Yvonne was imprisoned, hoping to find the testimonies of camp survivors who would able to answer their questions. They discovered though, that just like what Yvonne did with her own story, a whole nation has turned its back against its past, and by doing so, has left a void in the collective memory. It is as if a page in a history book had been torn out.
Perplexed and exhausted, they come to a realisation: If they are to get any information then they must go over to the Netherlands and interview the only Holman left alive, Yvonne’s youngest brother, Robert. Has he rejected his past like Yvonne? Could he have been in contact with Yvonne? Will he be too old to even remember? These fears plague the filmmakers as they fly into Holland.
Robert, to the surprise of Thomas and Jean-Baptiste, has near perfect recall of the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. What he reveals is the devastating story of family members who were brutalised by the Japanese, kicked-out by the Indonesians and then rejected by the Dutch. In one conversation nearly seventy years of secrets are thrust into the light and suddenly everything makes sense.
They turn to the family to find out what they knew. This quest is frustrated by the family’s fear of reopening the wound Yvonne fought so hard to recover from. The two decide to travel to Lampersari concentration camp, in Indonesia, where Yvonne was imprisoned, hoping to find the testimonies of camp survivors who would able to answer their questions. They discovered though, that just like what Yvonne did with her own story, a whole nation has turned its back against its past, and by doing so, has left a void in the collective memory. It is as if a page in a history book had been torn out.
Perplexed and exhausted, they come to a realisation: If they are to get any information then they must go over to the Netherlands and interview the only Holman left alive, Yvonne’s youngest brother, Robert. Has he rejected his past like Yvonne? Could he have been in contact with Yvonne? Will he be too old to even remember? These fears plague the filmmakers as they fly into Holland.
Robert, to the surprise of Thomas and Jean-Baptiste, has near perfect recall of the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. What he reveals is the devastating story of family members who were brutalised by the Japanese, kicked-out by the Indonesians and then rejected by the Dutch. In one conversation nearly seventy years of secrets are thrust into the light and suddenly everything makes sense.
Upcoming Productions
The Land Beyond the Mist
On Pre-Production
1635, the European Wars of Religion. In France Catholics are fighting against Protestants, neighbour against neighbour. Against this backdrop in Auvergne region, France, Eugenie Poujite is inspired to challenge the oppressive rule of her clergy and decides to write her own bible after Mary Magdalen told her that Jesus was a woman. Over three years she and her followers caused riots all throughout Auvergne, and even took control of the main city Clermont-Ferrand. After a bloody siege, she and her followers were eventually expelled to the mountains of Auvergne, in the land beyond the mist. Undeterred, Eugenie continued to wage guerrilla war from her capital Picherande, trying to save the souls of the women in preparation for a promised land without the oppression of men. Her descendent continues to lead the religion and tries to gain new converts.
My Lovely Neighbour
On Pre-Production
When Josif Ugrenović moved to the sleepy Victorian town of Mildura from Serbia, 10 year-old Jemma MacPherson had a new neighbour. Over 7 years the two began a friendship, which was put to the test after the Australian Federal Police arrested Josif for war crimes in Foča, Bosnia-Herzegovina, during the Yugoslav war. Despite his crimes, Jemma still continued to write to Josif while he was waiting for his trial in The Hague, Holland. When Jemma found-out Josif had no family she decided to head to Holland support him in regardless of her family’s misgivings and her community’s outrage.
