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Bitter Paradise: The Sell-Out of East Timor
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"Bitter Paradise: The Sell-Out of East Timor" began as a film project with Elaine Briere’s working trip to the former Portuguese colony in 1975: she was the last independent photographer permitted to enter East Timor before the Indonesian invasion in that year. Through a series of filmed interviews and seminars and speeches involving Canadian businessmen, politicians, public servants and activists, Briere uncovers Canadian participation with Indonesian companies in business activities taking place in East Timor during the period, 1975-1990. In addition, the documentary reveals the lives of East Timorese families and individuals who engage in the liberation struggle in East Timor, Europe and in Canada. Finally, the documentary engages members of western organizations (TAPOL, the East Timor Alert Network) that seek to bring awareness of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor to the world. Briere films rallies in Canada in support of the liberation struggle, attempts (unsuccessfully) to publicly question Canadian and Indonesian political and government leaders on the occupation, and sympathetically portrays young Timorese who employ stories and song, along with public speaking, to enlighten Canadian audiences (including labour organizations) regarding the occupation and destruction of the island nation, its peoples and cultures.
Elaine Briere is a Vancouver documentary-maker, photographer, journalist and social justice activist. Her documentary, "Bitter Paradise: The Sell-Out of East Timor", won the best political documentary award at the Hot Docs Festival, North America’s preeminent documentary film showcase, in 1997. In addition to her work on East Timor, which includes a published collection of photographs ("Testimony: Photographs of East Timor", Between the Lines, 2004), Briere has directed a documentary on Canadian merchant seamen, "Betrayed: The Story of Canadian Merchant Seamen" (1997), and has produced photo-journalism and print articles for "The Tyee", "Briarpatch", "Our Times", and other publications dedicated to labour and social justice issues. Briere’s photographs have appeared in many publications including, "Carte Blanche Photography 1" (2004); "The Other Mexico: The North American Triangle Completed" (1996), "South East Asia Tribal Groups and Ethnic Minorities" (1987) and "The Family of Women" (1979). Her photographs have been featured in exhibits in Canada, Japan, Sweden and the United States.