We Are Moving Stories

feature interview with

filmmakers about the

making of the film

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

The authors grew up together in St Kilda, so they are close to this story, witnessing the long-term effects of child-abuse and neglect across generations. This project is a voice for those silenced by shame, ignorance and pain. We made this film to bring attention to these crimes as many people are silenced. As with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, we hope there will be further investigation into this period of Australia’s criminal history. There was a large media and police response at the time which is reported in the book ‘Rockspider’ but nothing significant has surfaced since the 1980’s. The Book’s author also encountered walls of silence at the time of publishing in 1999.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

We hope audiences gain understanding and emotional empathy for children and people who live on the streets, and how they experience and cope with exploitation. To gain an intimate understanding of how a child is exploited and how this unfolds, and the nature of people who commit the crime.

We also hope that people will perceive the dignity of these children, and the complexities of the struggle to gain control of their lives

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

Themes of bonding and trust are explored. The boys only have each other. There are no trusted adults in their world so, like kids in “Lord of the Flies” they are forced to make their own rules.

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STEVE GROSSMITH:

Hi everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'm delighted to be chatting today about a film called, a short film, "Amissa Anima". Hard-hitting short film. Brilliantly made short film, actually. And I'm delighted to introduce to you Tatiana Doroshenko, she is the director and co-screenplay writer, I believe. We've got Katrina Mathers, who's a producer and Ellery Ryan was the DOP on this. Thank you very much for joining us and congratulations on this brilliant short film.

TATIANA DOROSHENKO:

Thank you.

KATRINA MATHERS:

Thanks Steve.

STEVE GROSSMITH:

Thank you. I'll read the brief synopsis. "Four boys survive on the seedy nights of St Kilda's red-light district in Australia in the 1980s, based on true events". And in actual fact, Tatiana goes into great detail on FilmFreeway about... Well, actually Tatiana, if I could move on to you first, and just tell us a little bit about how you came to make this film, because this area, I didn't know about this area in Australia. Of course, I was ignorant to it, until I'd seen the film. And as I said, it's quite hard-hitting. But could you just give us an idea of what brought you to want to make this project and how it all happened? And then, perhaps we can bring Katrina in as well.

TATIANA DOROSHENKO:

Yeah. I grew up in St Kilda. St Kilda's like our kind of.. it's the red-light district. It's also traditionally the holiday area in the city, by the beach...

Listen to the full podcast

The Podcast: Fusion International Film Festivals

podcast interview with Steve Grossmith