I am in Phnom Penh now, still working on CHANTI'S
WORLD - the documentary whose unfortunate history with Screen Australia has led
to my being banned! After being arrested twice in the foyer of Screen Australia
for doing nothing other than sitting there waiting to get answers to questions,
I am again due to be arrested soon if Citipointe church follows thorough with
its scarily veiled threats.
“Using
the law is the last thing that we want to see happen, because for you to be
convicted of a crime and serve a sentence may mean that you will never have the
opportunity to re-enter Cambodia again.”
So
writes Pastor Mulheran in Citipointe church’s latest attempt to intimidate me
into abandoning CHANTI’S WORLD. It is Citipointe church that has ‘stolen’ the
two eldest daughters of Chanti – the now 28 year old ‘star’ of my documentary.
“You
either cease all aspects of production of the documentary film or remove all
content which would identify the mother and the girls who are or were all child
victims.”
What
Pastor Mulheran suggests in his long letter to me is that it is OK for me to
make CHANTI’S WORLD as long as I conceal the identity of Chanti and her
daughters Rosa and Chita on the grounds that they are the victims of Human
Trafficking. The fact that Rosa and Chita are not victims of Human Trafficking
(and nor is Chanti) is no obstacle to Pastor Mulheran.
“Both the girls are deemed by Cambodian law to be victims
of Human Trafficking. Irrespective of your opinion or the opinion of others,
Cambodian law and the Cambodian Government deem the girls to be victims of
Human Trafficking.”
In
the world inhabited by Pastor Mulheran (Alice in Wonderland and Orwellian in an
equal mix) Rosa and Chita don’t need to be actual victims of Human Trafficking.
What is important is that they are ‘deemed’ to be. And why or how can they be
so ‘deemed’? Because Citipointe church’s ‘She Rescue Home’ has ostensibly been
set up to rescue victims of Human Trafficking. Therefore, given that Rosa and
Chita reside at the She Rescue Home they must be (or at least can be ‘deemed’
to be) victims of Human Trafficking. Confused? You should be, dear Reader.
“While
we acknowledge that you have regularly contributed to the financial support of
the family, is this just another form of trafficking in order to pay the family
so that you can continue to film them for your personal interest and the
financial gain that you would receive from the profits of your documentary?”
Right.
So, my filming this past 18 years, which has probably cost me around $100,000,
is not just for financial gain but is a ‘form of trafficking’! Mmmmm!
We sincerely do not want to have to go down a legal pathway of seeing you
forcibly removed…”
Oh
dear, as if being arrested twice in the foyer of Screen Australia was not enough,
now I have an Australian based Christian church threatening to have me
‘forcibly removed’ and convicted of a crime – the crime being identifying
‘victims of Human Trafficking’ who are not actual victims but are ‘deemed’ to
be. The fact that Rosa and Chita are
demonstrably NOT victims of Human Trafficking is, in Pastor Mulheran’s view,
merely an opinion. Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s famous saying comes to mind:
“Everyone
is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts.”
This
dispute, as with my battle with Screen Australia, has been going on for years.
The stakes are much higher here, however, as Chanti’s daughters were stolen
from her close to five years ago and we are no closer to getting them back than
we were in 2008.
For
those who want to get a better sense of what is going on, visit:
If
this whets your appetite for more, read my 3rd March letter to Penny
Richards, Australia’s Ambassador to Cambodia entitled:
Is Chanti entitled to be provided with copies of contracts
Citipointe has entered into with the Cambodian Ministries of Foreign and Social
Affairs?
The latest letter is to the head of a
coalition of 50 Christian NGOs that has either turned a blind eye to
Citipointe’s stealing of Chanti’s children or actually approves of the removal
of Buddhist children from their family’s care to be forcibly brought up as
Christians. Winning souls for Jesus Christ! It is entitled:
Does the Chab Dai Christian coalition support the
exploitation of children in 'poverty' or 'orphanage' tourism?
A brief recap of the Screen Australia aspect of
this story is in order: After 14 years of self-funding I found myself with no
money and needing some help from Screen Australia to continue filming. I made
an application fort a relatively small amount od development funding. As a
result some kind of cockup within Screen Australia my 'promo' for CHANTI'S
WORLD was not viewed by any of the three people in whose hands the fate of my
development application lay - Claire Jager, Ross Mathews and Julia Overton.
This triggered correspondence from me (ignored) which eventually led to Fiona Cameron
claiming that I had placed on file, in writing, my belief that I came away for
the meeting in which Ross and Julia admitted to not having seen my 'promo' with
the belief that my development application had been 'green lit'. This was
nonsense but it took 2 years to get Fiona Cameron to eventually release the
correspondence which, of course, contained no statement from me that implied or
inferred that I had come away from the meeting with Ross and Julie believing
that my project had been 'green lit'. That the facts were not in synch with
Fiona's assertions presented no problem at all for the Screen Australia Board
which, at Ruth Harley's behest, banned me (a first in Australian film history)
from making applications to Screen Australia on the grounds that I had, in my
correspondence, intimidated and placed at risk members of Screen Australia's
staff. The fact that there is not one shred of evidence that I have done so
(and I have asked countless times for any such correspondence to be made
public) matters not at all to the Screen Australia Board – three members of
which are practicing filmmakers!
So here I am in Cambodia, in my 18th year of
filming CHANTI'S WORLD on a less than shoestring budget. It will be an
interesting film. Very interesting. And it will only get more so as the years
pass – presuming, of course, that I am not in a Cambodian jail thanks to
Citipointe! One day CHANTIS WORLD will be completed and I think all those who
have put such a lot of effort into placing any and every obstacle they could in
my way (spite and vindictiveness at its worst) will look very foolish indeed.
By then, of course, most of the relevant bureaucrats will be gone.
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