Film Screening: Scattered People
Scattered People
Scattered People: A song can take you home is a 60-minute Australian documentary about the transformational and healing power of music – bringing together people, cultures and countries. Music can heal and transform on a personal and community level. But does music have the power to restore Australia’s compassion for some of the most vulnerable people in the world?
The film features Saha and Mas, two young Iranian musicians. Fleeing their homeland and seeking asylum in Australia, they end up in immigration detention where Mas encounters the Scattered People band – a small group of kindred spirits who play music and create songs with refugees and people seeking asylum. Following their journeys, we observe how music breaks down barriers and gives Saha and Mas purpose, helping to shape their new identities in a new land/life and offering hope for the future.
Including interviews and music from acclaimed musicians including Missy Higgins, John Butler, Michael Franti, Archie Roach, Katie Noonan, Dan Sultan, Harry James Angus, Robbie James (GANGgajang) and Baker Boy, Scattered People also explores how music can help unite, heal and restore our compassion for some of the most vulnerable people on our planet.
Scattered People offers a vehicle through which audiences can consider the experiences of people seeking asylum and refugees: the environments they have fled; their immigration journeys; the trauma they have experienced and the ongoing uncertainty of their visa status. Audiences are prompted to reconsider their own attitudes, too often framed by short, misleading and unsympathetic media bites. Utilising music to bring people and cultures together, the film helps to re-humanise people seeking asylum and raises audience awareness and empathy.
The release of Scattered People will be backed by an impact strategy aimed at changing the way some Australians view people seeking asylum and shifting the national conversation to a more compassionate and kinder tone.
Following the screening, we will host a panel discussion drawing on themes raised in the film. Light refreshments will be served.
Event Information
- Date: This event was held on Tuesday 30 May 2023
- Location: Level 1, Room X-101, NUspace, 409 Hunter Street
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.