FANTOME ISLAND – new upgraded 1080p file
1 January 2024
NOW AVAILABLE IN A SUPERB NEW 1080p HIGH RES FILE!
FANTOME ISLAND (2011, 82 mins) tells the story of Joe Eggmolesse, who in 1945 was removed under police escort from his family and confined to a leper colony for First Nations people, on an island off the North Queensland coast, over 1,000km from his home. He was seven years old. He spent the next 10 years on Fantome Island.
The isolated tropical island off the North Queensland coast was a new home for a close-knit community of 'lepers' whose marginalised existence was hidden from white society and has long remained absent from the mainstream historical record. Cared for by nuns from the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, their isolation was the consequence of apartheid-like policies developed by the Queensland government and medical establishment which espoused a eugenicist philosophy and regarded racial segregation as standard practice.
As one of the few surviving former patients, Joe returns to the island for a long-awaited Fantome Island Remembrance Day. He reflects on his Fantome years, shedding light on what it was like to be both Indigenous and a 'leper' in those pre-cure years as one of the 'walking dead'. Joe shares his story as he questions the context surrounding it. Fusing pathos with ironic humour, Joe's poignant journey offers a profound and personal insight into a dark side of Australian history.
Directed by SEAN GILLIGAN
Produced by ADRIAN STRONG and SEAN GILLIGAN
Executive Producer - MARK NEWMAN
Associate Producer - SELWYN "JOE" EGGMOLESSE
Edited by SEAN GILLIGAN and ADRIAN STRONG
Music by DAVID LAZAR
Photography - SEAN GILLIGAN, ADRIAN STRONG and RICHARD BELL
NOW AVAILABLE for screenings, and on DVD and Vimeo-on-Demand.
See the film's page in the Ronin catalogue for details and orders: www.roninfilms.com.au/video/819/60/6911.html