The music video we made for Rich Webb’s track ‘Love Someone’ has reached 100,000 views in just under a month!
The music video was inspired by the abhorrent treatment of asylum seekers who arrive by boat to Australia and the unlimited mandatory detention for asylum seekers and refugees that is handed out by the government, the only country in the world to have something so severe. The Australian government’s inhumane stance for over a decade is that “If you come to Australia by boat, you will never get to stay”.
These facilities have been the source of much controversy, with accusations of human rights abuses from Amnesty International, the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations. Journalists are forbidden from entering the detention facilities. Reports of self harm and suicide are upsettingly frequent.
According to the latest Australian government stats (30th Sept 2021), there are 1,459 people being held in mandatory detention facilities, and on average each person has been there for 689 days.
The UK government has praised the Australian governments methods and has revealed proposals for offshore centres for asylum seekers. Now with an estimated 3 million refugees having left war torn Ukraine (as of 21st March 2022), and with a projected 5 million people to leave the country, more action than ever needs to be done to safeguard refugees.
If you want to learn more about this topic, we would suggest reading Behrouz Boochani’s book ’No Friend but the Mountains’, which is a devastating account by the author of his survival from one of these offshore detention centres, where he spent 5 years.
Directed and animated by Matthew Lawes-Wickwar
Produced by Other Brother Studios
Research Assistant Dominique Daeschner
Featuring Rich Webb
DOP in Australia Emma Webb