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Film Screening of «Beatriz War» + «Jose’s Story: An animated documentary»

«Jose’s Story: An animated documentayr» (2013) by Wendy Chandler. 6 min.

Synopsis: Jose da Costa was born in the jungle of East Timor in 1976. His family fled there for three years after the brutal invasion by Indonesia. After witnessing half his family die of starvation and his murdered father’s body hanging from a tree, Jose left school and lived on the streets of the capital, Dili. He was 10. At age 14 Jose joined the clandestine resistance. In 1991 Jose participated in a pro-independence march to the Santa Cruz cemetery. Over 250 Timorese were massacred by the Indonesian military as they entered the cemetery. In the aftermath Jose was imprisoned and tortured.

In 1995 at age 18 Jose was one of 17 recruited for the operation “Tasi Diak”, meaning “good sea”. Their mission was to tell the world about the human rights violations inflicted on their people by the Indonesian military and their fight for freedom. After a terrifying journey lasting 6 days in a tiny leaking boat, they arrived in Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. As a refugee in Australia Jose completed school and earned a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Teaching degrees. At the same time he actively spoke in schools and to community groups in an effort to create an awareness of the issues facing his country. After East Timor became independent in 2002 Jose returned to his hometown of Baucau. There he laid eyes on his mother for the first time in 20 years. Today Jose finally has the freedom and voice to tell his story. Jose’s story is an inspiring tale of hope, resilience and survival.

«Beatriz War» (2013), by Bety Reis & Luigi Acquisto. 90 min.

Synopsis: East Timor’s historic first feature film, «Beatriz War» is a film made by East Timorese about Timor-Leste – written by Irim Tolentino, who also plays the role of Beatriz, and directed by Bety Reis. It is the story of one woman’s conviction to remain true to the man she loves and the country for which she fought. It is a bold reworking of the 16th century French ‘Martin Guerre’ story. In this adaptation the original story is transposed to Portuguese Timor during the 1975 Indonesian occupation of the small colony. ‘A Guerra da Beatriz’ starts in 1975 with the wedding of two eleven-year old children, Beatriz and Tomas, in a small mountain village in the heart of Timor. When the village is attacked Beatriz and Tomas flee to the mountains and live and fight with the resistance. In 1983 Beatriz is pregnant, there is a ceasefire, and she feels it is safe to surrender. Beatriz and Tomas move to the village of Kraras, an Indonesian prison camp, confident that the war will end soon. But then Beatriz is raped by Captain Sumitro, the Indonesian who runs the camp. The rape is intended to provoke the resistance to break the ceasefire, which it does. They attack and kill many of the Indonesian soldiers in the camp. This attack threatens the life of Beatriz’s newborn son and she sends him back to the resistance for safety. Beatriz, weak from giving birth, stays in the camp. The Indonesian military retaliates by massacring every male in the village, over two hundred men and children, and Kraras becomes known as the ‘village of widows’. During the massacre Tomas is arrested and disappears. Beatriz holds onto the hope that her husband has somehow escaped and will return. For the next 16 years Beatriz becomes a clandestine leader. In 1999, following East Timor's independence, Tomas returns. After the massacre he’d fled and fought with the resistance. Beatriz discovers a different man to the boy who’d left her years earlier. Tomas is now wiser, confident, and brave, something he never was as a child or a young man. He has learnt much from life as a soldier. But as time passes, Beatriz makes a chilling discovery. She becomes convinced that Tomas is an impostor, that she has mistaken a stranger for her husband. Who is this man? Why has he taken on a new identity? Tomas's sister and family accuse Beatriz of treachery, of madness. But she is determined to discover the truth.

Panel:

Jose da Costa  is a filmmaker, activist and co-founder of Dili Film Works. He has acted in films in Australia and Timor Leste (Answered by Fire, Balibo and Beatriz’s War). Jose da Costa is a trained primary school teacher and has authored several children’s books in the Tetum language.

Vannessa Hearman is lecturer in Indonesian Studies at Charles Darwin University. Her research deals with the 1965-66 anti communist violence in Indonesia, as well as histories of activism in and on Indonesia and Timor Leste.

Marisa Ramos Gonçalves is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, and part of the Research Group on Democracy, Citizenship and Law (DECIDe). She has been doing research on memory, history, ideas of human rights and justice in Timor-Leste.


Organization: Post-Colonialisms and Global Citizenship Doctoral Programme (Ces/Feuc); Art Studies Course (Fluc).