Skip to main content

Freedom and the Migrant Experience

Freedom and the Migrant Experience

" The secret to happiness is freedom...And the secret to freedom is courage." Thucydides 460-395 B.C



The online series, Migrant Stories, is about to conclude with anther two interviews to go and then it will be a few months in the edit suite to complete Series 4 & Series 5.  In May last year, I committed to the idea of creating a series of Migrant Stories, inspired mainly by the stories that we were losing and not recording here in Australia due to the ageing population of Migrants, considering so many came to Australia during the Post War years.  I figured I would dedicate 12 months of my filmmaking time to do this- and this I have done.  With the last of the interviews to be aired between April and May of 2018.


In all, there will be 30 stories.  At this stage, I wanted to share that there were a number of common threads between each and every person that was interviewed, and to take a moment to reflect on this.  In doing so, I found that it was apt to think of Thucydides' quote that the "secret to happiness is freedom...and the secret to freedom is courage."

What I found, was that it takes a certain trauma in the original country to install thoughts of moving.  This trauma can be instigated by government, poverty, lack of opportunities due to class structure of that country, and all in all, this points to a lack of freedom.  Every person that was interviewed, whether they came as children or as adults, were able to identify that the main driving force to moving was because the opportunities were just not present in their own country to allow them to flourish in however they saw their lives needing to do so.  That is, they did not have the freedom to do that.

Coupled with this however, was not just a desire to have freedom in their life, but a desire that was courageous; determined with a forward thinking spirit that burned within them to achieve this at whatever cost.  The latter is very prominent for most migrants- 'at whatever cost'.  As far as I'm concerned the greatest risk takers that I have met.  It didn't matter what they were up against, or whether they had any knowledge of what was in store- what was important to every single person that has come to Australia, and I gather to any other country as a migrant is the need to have freedom and with this freedom incredible courage.

In acknowledging this I am proud of the series that I have created and perhaps I will further develop this onto other platforms.  Every person that was interviewed is an asset to Australia and its progress, because they are made of strength in spirit and determination.  After all, it is these qualities in people that always moves a country forward.  Let's think about the 70 million displaced people around the world who need a new country and a new home, and that countries should find ways to open their sometimes very closed doors to them.

The last of series three will be launched tonight on FB at 7 pm,  with series 4 rolling out late February, and Series 5 rolling out late April.  Congratulations to every single person that has been interviewed to date, your responses have become an important part of Australia's oral Migration History, and I personally will always admire your courage to have the freedoms that you felt were an integral part of your lives.

Migrant Stories can be viewed here. http://www.medeafilms.com.au/migrant_stories.html



Stella Dimadis
January 2018

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.

"Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. "   Corrie Ten Boom Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker, who had helped many Jews escape during the Holocaust, was a prisoner and then a writer.  She held many memories, no doubt, fears; images that would stay forever and haunt her, but they were able to unlock a future for her that she would never have imagined.  Her writing and her boldness initiated her knighthood by the Queen of the Netherlands, The King's College in New York City named a new women's house in her honour, her book "The Hiding Place", was  made into a feature film, twice. Locked away in our computer hard drives are examples of our work and lives that we lock away when our computer sleeps, forgetting about their importance because we are always told to focus on the now, forgetting about our past.  Well, perhaps it is time that we also learn to love our past, regardless of what it was like, so that we can understand what our...
Post a Comment
Read more
 RENTAL FAMILY "Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family." -  Anthony Brandt . My days became one jumbled hour after hour where time disappeared into another year, until here we are, the 1st of January 2026.  Nothing much stirred me to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, until this evening after  watching RENTAL FAMILY, starring Brendan Fraser.  Phillip Vanderploeg is a struggling actor who is selected to fill in for families as an individual with significance to the family member in need.  He is a writer, dad, mourner, not so much as a true story but reminiscent of Japanese companies serving the community by providing professional actors at events like funerals or weddings. Thereby formulating a whole new meaning to the responsibilities of a plus one. At its core, the film celebrates the connection of the human spirit; the inherent social need that humans have to socialising, being together, in all asp...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Art In Healing

  "Our creativity is what enables us to function, day to day, in a changing environment, without it we would not be a surviving species". Richard Hill ‘The Art In Healing’ explores the role that creativity and art  play in people’s lives, particularly when personal trauma occurs or when people are afflicted by natural disasters. The inspiration for the film came about by contemplating the questions; ‘Why is art such an important aspect to civilisation and our society’? and ‘Does the human brain benefit from interacting with art, and if so, how’? From these questions a number of people offered their experience and research, especially in describing brain plasticity and the ability of the brain to rewire after an artistic experience. ‘The Art In Healing’ showcases a number of professionals, ranging from art therapists Simona Weinstein and Cornelia Elbrecht, therapist Richard Hill, musicians, Merelyn and David Carter, artist, Dr Anne Riggs, street artist, Amanda Newman...
Post a Comment
Read more