By Melanie Bakewell
A new documentary called Reclaimed Voices, produced by the African Youth Initiative (AYI), is flipping the script.
Reclaimed Voices follows the journey of Sabir Banek, a young South Sudanese Australian, and the challenges he faced growing up in Melton. The film intersperses Sabir’s personal story with family photographs and smartphone video footage, while he reflects on how he got caught up in a cycle of crime, and how he found his way out.
“What’s really powerful about Reclaimed Voices is you don’t just see a criminal, but you see the person and the story behind it,” says AYI Treasurer Malou Lueth, who also appears in the film.
“It allows you to empathize with them, but understand their story and hear their remorse as well.”
Robiel Abraham, CEO of the African Youth Initiative, says watching Reclaimed Voices is almost like doing case management. “You’re seeing the barriers and context, you’re finding out what he’s like, his family history, how he’d lost his father at a young age and gone to a low socio-economic school,” she says. “Rather than the reporting after the crime, it shows you what leads up to it.”
A 2020 study by Monash University found that negative media representations of young South Sudanese Australians impacted their sense of belonging and had ongoing consequences for their well-being and success.
For Robiel and Malou, Reclaimed Voices provides a counter-narrative by giving agency back to the young people negatively impacted by dominant media narratives.
“It’s not just reclaiming their voices, but also their identity for them to be able to feel empowered in their skin and in their culture,” Malou says.
The film, and AYI itself, was born out of a collective tragedy – the 2020 death of Robiel’s childhood friend and Malou’s cousin, Machar Kot.
“This film brought up a lot of emotions, but it actually helped [the community] address and accept what happened, but also be able to move on,” says Malou.
“It’s collective healing, collective storytelling. We’re not just reclaiming Sabir’s voice but the whole community as one. I think that’s why it’s so powerful and the team was so driven,” says Robiel.
All aspects of the film’s production involved young people from the community.
“We were like, we’ve got young people that we’re already working with. They’re really good at making content. Why don’t we give them a chance?” says Robiel. “When you give young people a chance and support, you see what they can make. It shows how much talent we actually have in our community.”
“We talk about it as a movement rather than a documentary,” says Malou. “ The documentary does something for people’s emotions which is good and well but we want real change as well…We want to make a movement and do things that are more tangible for the community. There are other projects that will come out of this.”
Reclaimed Voices premiered to a sold out crowd at Woodgrove Cinemas in August.
It screens again at Melton Reading Cinemas on November 2nd, November 9th in Wyndham (details TBC) and The Sun Theatre in Yarraville on November 16.
Private screenings for community organisations and schools can also be arranged.
