OUR CATALOG
Children of the Crocodile
A film by Marsha Emerman
Australia | 2001 | 52 minutes | Color | DVD | Tetum/Portuguese | Subtitled | Order No. 03788
SYNOPSIS
PRESS
“A touching and poignant account…told through the lived experience of East Timor’s struggle for independence. An excellent ethnographic film…highly recommended for a variety of social science courses: cultural anthropology courses focusing on refugee and immigrant issues, gender, and politics; courses in women’s studies, and history and area courses on Southeast Asia.”
"[an] evocative journey...This is a genuine, courageous, warm tale worth seeing."
"... a fascinating documentary ...a moving insight into the lives of two passionate young women and a reminder that behind every grand historical moment there is a multitude of individual stories just waiting to be told."
“… tells the dramatic but little known story of the East Timorese independence struggle from the perspective of young people of the diaspora... Highly recommended for its attention to the role of generation, gender, and sexuality in the construction of both nationalist and diasporic identities.”
“Highly recommended…Well filmed and edited…a great addition to any cultural studies collection.”
SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS
- New York Asian American Int'l FF
- Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO)
- Immaginaria Lesbian FF, Italy
- AUSFEST, Digital Video Festival
- Newport Beach FF
- Women of Color FF, CA
- Cinema Paradise FF
- Paris Lesbian FF
- Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival- Audience Award
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Marsha is a documentary producer, director, writer and researcher with over twenty-five years' experience. Her film CHILDREN OF THE CROCODILE, a personal history of East Timor, was broadcast nationally in Australia on SBS TV, screened in cinemas, and showed in festivals around the world. It won Best Documentary at Toronto's Inside Out Film Festival, Award of Excellence at Through Her Eyes Film Festival, and was included in a major exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Other credits include Lihok Pilipina, about women in the Philippines and Intersections, about new migrants to Australia.
Marsha's 2015 feature documentary ON THE BANKS OF THE TIGRIS is a musical odyssey that uncovers the hidden - and almost erased - story of Iraqi music. It won Best Documentary at the Baghdad International Film Festival, Audience Award at the Arab Film Festival in San Francisco, and Best Director Documentary at the Nepal Human Rights Film Festival.
In the USA, Marsha gained an MA in Cinema Studies from San Francisco State University and worked on such classic films as"Dark Circle", "The Day After Trinity" and "The Fall of the I-Hotel". Since migrating to Australia in 1989, she has been a lecturer in the documentary MA program at the VCA School of Film & TV. Her 'Women and Documentary Film' class, and expert knowledge of women's contribution to documentary, have led to visiting lectureships at the University of Oregon and Portland State University. (10/17)