“Chauka, Please Tell Us the Time” is a powerful documentary shot clandestinely on a smartphone by Behrouz Boochani inside Australia’s Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea. Footage was sent electronically to Arash Kamali Sarvestani, who wove it together with interviews shot outside the detention centre to create the film.
After the film is screened, the IMRC will host a Q & A session with filmmakers Sarvestani (in person) and Boochani (remotely from Manus Island).
About the filmmakers
Behrouz Boochani is an Iranian-Kurdish journalist, activist, and poet. In addition to his work on “Chauka,” he has published a memoir, “No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison,” which was written on a mobile phone using What’s App. Awards he has received for the book include the Victorian Prize for Literature, the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Nonfiction, a special award in the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, the Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for General non-fiction book of the year, and the Australian National Biography Award.
Arash Kamali Sarvestani is an Iranian Dutch filmmaker and video artist. He studied film at the Art University of Tehran and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. His work has been featured in numerous festivals in Europe and Iran. He currently lives and works in the Netherlands.
Questions about the event can be sent to imrc@wlu.ca.
