ASSI Stories: A multimedia project for Australian South Sea Islanders to explore identity, heritage & story.
In 2014, ASSI community members were invited to attend storytelling and media workshops in Brisbane, to learn how to turn their story into a short film. At the end of the project, the films produced by project participants were presented in a public screening event at The Edge, State Library of Queensland in Brisbane.
A Facebook page (www.facebook.com/assistories) and website (www.assistories.org) documented the process of workshops, discussions and filming in various Queensland towns with seven participants writing and directing their own short films.
In August 2019, ASSI Stories producer Amie Batalibasi initiated ASSI History Month via the ASSI Stories Facebook page using the hashtag #ASSIHistoryMonth sharing articles, archives, images and stories that shine a light on the dark history of blackbirding.
View one of the ASSI Stories 2014 films below and find all of the short films on the ASSI Stories website:
Project Acknowledgements: Australian South Sea Islanders Secretariat Inc. (Brisbane) was the principle project partner in collaboration with Creative Producer and Filmmaker Amie Batalibasi. The ASSI Stories project 2014 was funded by the Australian Council for the Arts through the 2014 Creative Producer grant.
