When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, five young newsmen working for Australian television were caught in the crossfire. Well, that’s the official line.

This powerful and suspenseful political thriller re-creates the events surrounding their shooting by Indonesian soldiers on 16 October, intercutting them with the story of an older journalist, Roger East, subsequently invited to East Timor by José Ramos-Horta to uncover the truth behind their deaths. But the important questions asked of East by Ramos-Horta in the film, questions never satisfactorily answered in several subsequent investigations, concern not the Indonesian but the Australian government.

East was one of three journalists in East Timor at the time; Jill Jolliffe was working as a freelancer for Reuters, and it is on her book that Balibo is based. This is an important story for Australians, and the film’s co-writer and director, Robert Connolly, shows here both the same moral concerns and the ability to weave them into a compelling piece of film that he exhibited in his directorial début, The Bank, which he also co-wrote. AD-G


Presented by



A presentation of the Melbourne International Film Festival MIFF Première Fund at the St.George Bank Brisbane International Film Festival.


Nominated for the FIPRESCI Award
Nominated for the INTERFAITH Award