Last week, myself and about 8 people (from all walks of life) were wondering the streets of Cowra armed with some camera gear and a desire to record an important (and much overlooked) part of Australian history; the imprisonment of foreign civilians (Japanese, Indonesian, Italian and German) in Australia during World War II.
The week involved 35 hours of intensive filmmaking workshops with a goal of shooting a documentary. We shot and edited a 6-minute preview, which we hope will lead to a larger documentary over the next year (dependant on funding).
This was the 4th filmmaking workshop I have facilitated in Cowra and I must say, it remains an honour to be involved with programs like this. The students were astute, attentive and eager to learn. We had a range of participants, from 13 to 70 years of age, and as a parent of one of our fine students kept saying to me at the end of each day, ‘ I can’t believe these workshops were free. All we parents need to do is drop ‘em off.’ Thank you to all those who helped out too, your cooperation and passion has done great things. I hope to see you all again soon.
All photos by David Hansen
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