TIMOR-LESTE: NATION BUILDING 101

In January of 2006, when President Xanana Gusmao of Timor-Leste
personally invited me to return to his country to make a sequel
to my prize-winning historical documentary EAST TIMOR: BETRAYAL
AND RESURRECTION, I was both thrilled and elated. He had just
seen the first filmwith Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta at a
screening in New York, and I had no way of knowing how they would
react. Years of wandering through the political minefields
of United Nations Televison had taught me to expect the unexpected
at screenings, so I was ready for anything.

Initially, I had hoped to focus on the economic development of
the country, since my previous film had dealt with East Timor's
amazing struggle for self-determination until independence in
2002. As a television producer for The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor in 2000,
I was familiar with many of the basic economic issues, and I
believed the story could be a good case study of nation building.
Much to his credit, President Gusmao did not ask me to paint a
rosy picture, and offered the cooperation of my old friends and
colleagues at TVTL, Timor-Leste's television station
which I helped create back in 2000.

I knew we could expect no financial backing in the United States,
where the mainstream media has shown little or no interest in
the story of Timor-Leste ever since it was illegally annexed by
Indonesia in an American-sponsored invasion in 1975. Whether or
not this media blackout has anything to do with Dick Cheney, Don
Rumsfeld, and Henry Kissenger's involvement in that invasion is
anyone's guess, as is the fact the Timor-Leste sits astride
the strategically important Timor Gap and some major maritime
oil fields. Whatever we have heard about the country has been
due to the heroic efforts of brave independent journalists like
John Pilger, Amy Goodman and Max Stahl - my heros all!

When I was awarded the UN Correspondents' Association Ricardo
Ortega Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism for my
East Timor film in December of 2004, I said in my acceptance speech
that the media establishment ought to hang its head in shame for
its collective neglect of the East Timor story, and I stand by that
statement. Attempts are even now being made to rewrite the tragic
history of the country in an effort to exonerate the guilty parties,
and these attempts should be resisted by all those who know the truth
of the destruction of East Timor by the Indonesian army and its militia
minions after the UN run referendum on sefl-determination in 1999
in which the East Timorese voted overwhelmingly (78.5%) to be
independent from Indonesia.

In May of 2006, there was an major outbreak of violence in
the capital of Dili, and I soon realized that the nature of my
story was changing. However,I continued with my preparations, and
moved my production office to Thailand in the summer of 2006.
Since then, I have been seeking funding and getting organized
while adjusting to Thailand, which has not been difficult, thanks
to my wonderful wife. I am now fully operational for HD digital
production here, and am studying Final Cut Pro 5.

In December of 2006, I returned to my native Sweden, where
one of my old teachers from Dramatiska Institutet helped me
develope my project proposal, which now has the working title
TIMOR-LESTE: NATION BUILDING 101. (Nothing like tough feedback
for whipping an idea into shape - thank you Leif Hedman!) I also
received a green light from Professor Erik Hedling of the Film
History Department of the University of Lund for my doctoral thesis on the related subject of DIGITAL FILM IN POST CONFLICT SOCIETIES,
so it was a very rewarding trip on many levels. One of my dreams
is that digital film will enable impoverished countries like
Timor-Leste to make their own films about their reality, and
this thesis is a step in that direction.

So now I am awaiting a visit from my good friend Claudia
Abate from New York, who will arrive in the middle of the insanity
of the Thai New Year celebration of Song Khran. Given the political
situation here, this year's festivities are expected to be particularly intense, but Claudia will be able to relax when
she gets to Dili!

A luta continua...