Chauka, Please Tell Us the Time • Directed by Arash Kamali Sarvestani and Behrouz Boochani • 2017 • Papua New Guinea

Shot entirely on a smartphone, Chauka, Please Tell Us the Time reveals the banality and brutality of life found inside Australia’s Manus Regional Processing Center in Papua New Guinea. Having been forced to flee Iran due to his involvement in activism, Behrouz Boochani was intercepted by Australian authorities while attempting a boat crossing from Indonesia to Australia. He was then incarcerated in the Manus Island detention center. While there, he recorded the lives of the refugees using his smartphone, capturing footage that attested to the immense pain and suffering they experienced. In this high-security facility, various forms of purposeful oppression intersect to create friction and despair among the refugees, in many cases breaking their spirits.
This documentary above all criticizes how the Australian government punished asylum seekers on this remote island. However, it also clearly shows the beauty of the island’s locals and their culture; indeed, they too are victims under this system founded on colonialism. Rather than relying on violent scenes, the film makes use of interviews with the refugees, intermingled with stunning and powerful shots of nature found around the facility, to construct a poetic documentary.

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