Forgotten Bird of Paradise, the undercover documentary directed by Dancing Turtle’s Dominic Brown, has won Best Documentary at the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, Nevada — one of the most respected short film festivals in the United States.
The film provides a rare insight into the struggle for independence in West Papua, a territory under Indonesian occupation since 1962. Filmed covertly and without the knowledge or permission of the Indonesian authorities, it features never-before-seen footage of Papuan freedom fighters at their jungle stronghold, interviews with victims of human rights abuses, and a secret interview with high-profile political prisoner Yusak Pakage — jailed for ten years after taking part in a peaceful flag-raising ceremony, and recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience.
Since its premiere at Green Man Festival in 2009, the film has screened continuously at festivals around the world — including Raindance in London, the Pan African Film & Arts Festival in California, Byron Bay International Film Festival in Australia, Montreal First Peoples Festival in Canada, and the Native & Indigenous Film Festival in the Czech Republic.
The Dam Short Film Festival award marks the first major international recognition for the film and reflects a growing global awareness of the situation in West Papua — a territory largely absent from the mainstream media, where foreign journalists and human rights groups remain banned by the Indonesian government.
The DVD is available now through the Dancing Turtle shop. Watch the trailer below.
Forgotten Bird of Paradise was produced by Dancing Turtle Films, our in-house audio-visual production studio. If you have a story worth telling — documentary, short film or otherwise — we’d love to hear from you.
