No video available, Batoor: A Refugee Journey
Presented on:
Saturday 1 April 2023, 2.00pm - 4.15pm
Allan Scott Auditorium, Hawke Building,
UniSA City West Campus, 55 North Terrace Adelaide
MAP
A video is unavailable for this presentation.
01 April 2023
Join us for a screening of the poignant and touching documentary, Batoor: A Refugee Journey by Walkley Award winning photojournalist, Barat Ali Batoor. Batoor: A Refugee Journey follows Batoor’s path from Afghanistan through to Australia in search of safety and sanctuary.
Barat Ali Batoor was once Afghanistan’s most esteemed photographer working for the United States Embassy in Kabul. But in 2011, all this changed when The Washington Post published his potent photo essay exposing one of Afghanistan’s darkest secrets – the brutal trade in young ‘dancing boys’ for the purposes of entertainment and forced prostitution.
With death threats looming over his head, he embarked on a journey that would see him cross three continents. Remarkably, he photographed and filmed his entire journey - creating an insightful record of the dangerous world of asylum seekers, people smuggling and cross border trafficking. His film documents not only his journey but the lives of asylum seekers who make perilous journeys to escape persecution. Batoor: A Refugee Journey also presents a life-affirming journey of courage and determination in the face of insurmountable odds, and is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
Batoor was awarded 'Best Director' for his documentary film, and was also nominated for the 2021 Walkley Documentary Award.
Batoor’s film will screen from 2pm - 3.30pm, followed by a Panel Discussion with Barat Ali Batoor, Associate Professor Mary Anne Kenny - Murdoch University and University of South Australia and Professor Nicholas Procter - University of South Australia.
Presented by The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre
Batoor: A Refugee Journey documents Barat Ali Batoor's epic journey that saw him traverse three continents, be people smuggled over multiple borders, survive a shipwreck in the open seas, become lost in the jungles of Indonesia, escape from imprisonment and spend months living undercover as an illegal immigrant.
This is the harrowing story of one person’s struggle to find freedom and safety while also probing moral issues around human displacement, people smuggling and migration policy.
The film highlights the powerlessness and the precarious lives of the world’s 70 million displaced souls; and is an attempt to give a voice to the planet’s most vulnerable people.
While the views presented by speakers within The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre public program are their own and are not necessarily those of either the University of South Australia, or The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, they are presented in the interest of open debate and discussion in the community and reflect our themes of: Strengthening our Democracy - Valuing our Diversity - Building our Future. The Hawke Centre reserves the right to change their program at any time without notice.