Pat is a central character in Alias Ruby Blade having been a mentor to Kirsty in her early years in Melbourne while she was working at the magazine Inside Indonesia and the Australian Council for Oversees Aid.

After the historic referendum and the ensuing chaos, Pat became the senior advisor to CAVR and was instrumental in the publication of CHEGA!, the truth seeking report of over 2500 pages which chronicles the human rights violations committed during the occupation of Timor-Leste.

Read more about CAVR and the CHEGA! report here.

A luta continua!

Tanya and Alex with Pat Walsh, Melbourne

In the office of the President, 2010

We first met José while working for the United Nations Mission in Support of East Timor as a documentary unit in 2005 and were privileged to have the opportunity to interview him for the first time then. His 1987 book “Funu (War): the Unfinished Saga of East Timor” was one of the inspirations for Alias Ruby Blade and helped us to formulate the idea of using the personal stories of the key players in the resistance struggle to shape a narrative.

Tanya Ager Meillier, José Ramos-Horta, Alex Meillier, 2005

José Ramos-Horta appears in a surprisingly candid two-part interview in Alias Ruby Blade. Check out his website here and follow him on Facebook.

These dramatic photographs depict Naldo leading a protest march in Sydney in 1999 calling for international peacekeepers to intervene during the height of the militia violence perpetrated against the Timorese people in retaliation for their vote for independence. Ultimately, through their actions and other brave individual acts the peacekeepers were sent in and the militias disarmed, marking the beginning of the long process of rebuilding and reconciliation that continues today.

Special thanks to photographer Anne Maregiano for providing us with these incredible images.

Read the press release here

From the Korea Times

Kirsty Sword Gusmao, third from left

Last November, our cameras followed Kirsty to Bangkok, Thailand where she was a featured speaker in an educational conference sponsored by UNICEF. The implementation of mother tongue based education amongst the attendees from all around the world was a topic of passionate discussions and debate.

We learned that Timor-Leste is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, despite having a population of only just over one million people. The Timorese are naturally gifted with languages. In Dili, it is quite common for average Timorese to easily fluctuate between speaking Tetum, Bahasa Indonesian, English and Portuguese.

Kirsty fields a question from the audience

Most Timorese speak Tetum, the most common language in Timor-Leste, but many also speak their own native language at home which can be specific to their region or village. Children who speak a mother tongue at home and then go to school where the teachers are speaking Portuguese are at a disadvantage and become discouraged with school. By learning to read and write first in their own language it enhances their ability to learn and makes it easier to learn other languages. In addition, in a place like Timor-Leste, still scarred from generations of conflict, learning the mother tongue fosters unity and pride in their national identity.

Tanya and Kirsty aboard a UN flight from Dili to Maliana. By road the journey takes several hours over mountainous terrain. By helicopter, 30 minutes.

Last summer we pitched our film to the UN Creative Community Outreach Initiative and they have been instrumental in helping us to identify and access critical archival material as well as putting us in touch with the UN Mission of Support in East Timor. The UN in Timor provided us with logistical support including a helicopter ride to Maliana where we were able to film a reception for the Prime Minister.

Shane Sigler takes a shot through the porthole

Alex has been invited to join a panel next Thursday, February 17th to discuss the cooperation with UN Creative Community Outreach Initiative and Alias Ruby Blade.

Read more about the event here.

Shane Sigler with his Canon 5D Mark II rig aboard a UN flight

We’ve been shooting Alias Ruby Blade primarily on the Canon 5D Mark II digital SLR. We made this decision early on with our cinematographer Shane Sigler. It enables us to shoot in environments where we don’t want to draw attention, such as on the streets of Jakarta, and for us to have at times two cameras rolling or a back-up if needed.

Shooting with the 5D is like taking a step backward and a step forward at the same time. Without auto focus or exposure, the cinematographer is in complete control and the results really speak for themselves. The shallow depth of field, rich color and full frame HD of the image is more like digital 35mm than video. Being able to utilize multiple lenses and a intervalometer for time lapse photography also added a great deal to the production value. So far, we’ve shot over 75 hours of original footage on the 5D.

Tanya shooting hi-8

In addition to the 5D, on this last trip we shot multiple formats adding textural layers to the film. As Kirsty’s footage from the nineties is primarily on hi-8, we tracked down a PAL hi-8 camera in perfect condition and brought it along  on some incredible journeys tracing her footsteps from her first journey to East Timor in 1990.

Director Alex Meillier & Cinematographer Shane Sigler set up a shot with a Bolex super 16mm camera. Jakarta

We also began shooting a series of sequences on 16mm color reversal; mostly shot in frenetic close-ups, these sequences are designed like a film within a film to capture the “Ruby Blade” story. More about that in posts to come…