Suai Media Space

The Circle of Stones the short film (11mins) has been uploaded on to Suai Media Space. Written and Directed by Jen Hughes and Filomena dos Reis. Edited by Rosie Jones

The Circle of Stones documents the story the Suai Church Massacre. The film intercuts a  re-enactment of the massacre, written and directed by Filomena dos Reis for a performance held on the First Anniversary, with the grieving around the circle of stones and the Catholic Mass. In this way the film has been given an intimate and emotional dramatic tension rarely seen in a short documentary. Controversial because of its intimate shots of the women grieving and its emotional character, the critics couldn’t know that the footage was made possible by the deliberate actions of those women who pulled the filmmaker into the circle so that their story would be told to the world. As Melbourne writer and critic Felicity Collins commented:

“…. The circle of stones shows us the face of grief, in particular it shows us the faces of women taking on the public role of mourning with their bodies and their voices. . The film’s quiet focus on the intense expression of collective grief reminds us that remembering the past through mourning is a way of making history and that women play a key role in this process.”

In 2002, with the help of ETAN Filomena took the film on a tour of the United States and screened it for the U.S. Congress.  According to Filomena, she thanked the Congress members for their time, and asked their indulgence to watch the film she brought with her. As the video player began she turned her back and left some of the most powerful people in the world to watch this simple plea for justice.  Among the audience who saw the film were Hilary Clinton and Condaleezza Rice. According to Filomena, with tears in her eyes Ms Clinton bent forward to whisper in her ear ” I cannot promise, but we will see what we can do”. We are still waiting Ms Clinton.

Made purely as an act of friendship for the people of Suai this little film has done some good work, now it can continue via this website.

To everybody who came to Suai Media Space on the 9th Anniversary of the Suai Church Massacre - my deepest apologies. I have had difficulties with uploading this video. I will post a news item immediately the video is uploaded.

Today and tomorrow mark the Ninth Anniversary of the Suai Church Massacre in which over 50 people were killed in Our Lady of Fatima Church in Suai, while up to 200 are said to have died in the Church grounds and the Unfinished Cathedral.

To mark the anniversary our film the Circle of Stones which is a call for justice for the people of East Timor and particularly Suai, will be uploaded to Suai Media Space.

A call for justice the film intercuts the re-enactment of the massacre with the ceremony around the Circle of Stones that grew outside the Church, that marks the place where the bodies of those killed were burned by the militia afterwards.

I video-taped this graffiti in July 2000 which was 11 months after the massacres that forced the whole population of Suai to flee to the hills in September 1999. I will post a video asap.

[Note: Click on a photo to get the ‘gallery’ to pop up then scroll through the gallery using the ‘Next’ and ‘Back’ buttons near the top on the sides.]

[Show as slideshow]

This graffiti is all written in Indonesian - whereas now (2008) it is mostly in Tetun or Portuguese reflecting the real changes in the language being used daily and to whom the graffiti artists are addressing their comments.

A response by journalist Hamish Mcdonald in the Sydney Morning Herald to the news this week’s report of a joint Indonesia-East  Timor “Truth and Justice Commission” that has blurred the blame for
the horrors of 1999, in which some 1500 people died and the scorched earth campaign that followed.

This story contributes to the knowledge on this website about the murderers of Hilario Madeira and the others in Suai.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/flawed-truth-and-fatal-consequences/2008/07/18/1216163157029.html.

Father Hilario is always spoken of so well by everybody I meet. That was an outstanding man and an exemplary priest is testified to by his stand in Suai on the 5th of September, 1999. Father Hilario and the other priests knew they were to be attacked before it took place. Father Hilario kept people informed of what was happening on the ground as it happened and he and the other priests had sufficient time to leave Our Lady of Fatima Church and save their own lives, but they chose to stay and die with their congregation. By reputation he was also the kind of priest that did not see that it was necessary to destroy a culture in order to take up the beliefs of christianity. To the contrary the people of Suai were encouraged to maintain their culture and their language. This philosophy appeared to be  carried on by Father Rene Manubag when I was there in 2000. When there was important rituals and ceremonies taking place the women wore the tais and danced. When I saw a similar ceremonies in Dili and elsewhere the Timorese involved in the ceremony all wore  white gowns familiar to us in European Christian settings, and there certainly wasn’t any traditional dance. Where else cin East Timor could we have imagined that the ritual around the circle of stones on the 6th of September, 2000 on the First Anniversary of the Massacre could have taken place alongside the Catholic Mass? Anybody reading this who can tell us more about  Father Hilario, please, write to us.