Pacific Scoop:
By Sue May

An Australian political thriller about the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975 and the murder of six journalists – one of them a New Zealander – opens in cinemas here on February 18.

The film Balibo was banned in Indonesia but has been widely shown by journalist groups committed to free speech and distributed on DVD.

Balibo tells the true story of five journalists murdered by Indonesian special force units probing around the East Timor border town just before the invasion – and the later execution of another Australian journalist investigating their deaths.

One of the murdered “Balibo Five” was New Zealand cameraman Gary Cunningham, who was there with his colleagues Greg Shackleton and Anthony Stewart for Australia’s Channel 7, alongside Channel 9’s Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie.

After the murders, Timorese activist (and now President) José Ramos-Horta (Oscar Isaac), persuaded veteran war correspondent Australian Roger East (Anthony LaPaglia) to investigate the killings. East was also killed by Indonesian troops.

The film has been critically acclaimed and given AFI Awards in Australia.

Director Robert Connolly (The Bank, Three Dollars), co-wrote the screenplay with renowned Australian playwright and screenwriter David Williamson (The Year of Living Dangerously, Gallipoli) based on the book Cover Up by journalist Jill Jolliffe.

Kiwi portrayal
The pair were awarded best screenplay adaptation at the AFI Awards, where LaPaglia won best actor and Isaac best supporting actor.

Gary Cunningham is played by Australian Gyton Grantley, best known for his portrayal of gangster Carl Williams in the acclaimed TV series Underbelly, for which he won AFI and Logie Awards.

Cunningham’s real family (brother Greig, sister Anne and son John Milkins) are based in Melbourne and were involved in making the film, as sources of personal research for actor Grantley and director Connolly and they also participated as extras.

Since its Australian release last year, the film has itself become part of the story.

In December, the Indonesian government banned a screening by the Jakarta International Film Festival.

But the Indonesian Journalists Association screened it illegally, to make a stand for freedom of speech. One outcome of the IJA screenings was an interview in Tempo magazine with an Indonesian officer who saw the film via the IJA.

He admitted he was in Balibo at the time and that the journalists were executed to keep them from telling the truth about the invasion.

Honoured in East Timor
The film has been honoured in East Timor.

At a special ceremony in Dili last August, President José Ramos-Horta presented director Robert Connolly and producer John Maynard the Presidential Medal of Merit for the film, in recognition of its great contribution to the country.

This followed seven nights of screenings of Balibo, dubbed in the Tetun language, to thousands of East Timorese.

Balibo is the first feature film to be made in East Timor.

It has screened in these international film festivals: Toronto, London, Pusan, Melbourne and New Zealand.

It has been renamed The Balibo Conspiracy for sales to the United States, where audiences are unfamiliar with the story – but are interested, says Connolly, in the broader issue of journalists getting killed in warfare, in relation to the US experience in the Iraq War.

Café Pacific award
Here in New Zealand, it was given a 2009 Café Pacific Film of the Year Award with the citation: “The on-screen version of the murder of five journalists working for Australian media in East Timor at the time of the invasion by Indonesian in 1975 has triggered debate about journalistic professionalism in an age when bravado was perhaps more important than the safety concerns dominant today.”

Café Pacific is edited by Pacific Media Centre director Dr David Robie, author of a book featuring the East Timor struggle, Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific.

Human rights activist Maire Leadbeater is also keeping the issue alive, having included it in her 2006 book Negligent Neighbour, which challenges the New Zealand government’s role in East Timor.

She is now working with Wellington City Council to place a Gary Cunningham memorial plaque and tree on Mt Victoria and is the guest speaker at an Amnesty benefit screening of Balibo in Auckland on February 15.

* Balibo opens on February 18 at the Rialto cinemas in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin, and Penthouse and Lighthouse cinemas in Wellington.

Sue May is New Zealand publicist for the film Balibo.

Balibo trailer | Balibo website