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On a village field in Timor Leste, the big screen has arrived, brought here by a cinema thousands of kilometers away. In Melbourne's West, the Sun Theatre has been a Yarraville landmark since 1938. Thank you very much. Owner Michael Smith bought it derelict in 1995 and brought it back to life. More than a decade ago, he took the big screen on the road. Cinema Lorosae, meaning rising sun in Tetum, travels to remote villages screening films dubbed into the local language. Dili has one little twin cinema. Outside of that, there are no cinemas in East Timor. So, this is the only time of the year that they get the communal experience of sharing a film together. And because we've dubbed them into the
local language, everyone can understand what's going on. In 2019, Michael co-founded the Dili International Film Festival. Now, a growing platform for Timorese stories. This year, a grassroots documentary traced the history of queer activism in a country still deeply conservative on gender and sexuality. Right in Dili, right in Australasia, right around the world, let your voices be heard. Filmmaker Ronnie Brown says the screening was as much for the film's subjects as its audience.
The best thing about showing the film at the Dili International Film Festival was that it um was an opportunity for particularly the participants in the film to um hear and see their own stories um on a bigger platform. Akal Iris is a Portuguese term for rainbow. Independence fighter and human rights activist Bella Galhos founded Akal Iris, a safe space for LGBTI people in Dili in 2017. I think that is very important for the Timorese to know that we are here, we exist. And to expose to the world is important because we do need connection, we do need solidarity. Small country like ours called itself as a democratic society.
But there are a lot of people still left behind. You know, the people with disabilities, people marginalized group as an LGBT people, poor women, you know, single mother. Are you know, it's a still a huge struggle. Now, she wants the film to travel far beyond Dili. We do hope to have the solidarity, the connection of international to support us here in Timor because we have none support from the government. From the restored picture palace in Melbourne to a blow-up screen on a village field, the Rising Sun is giving Timor storytellers a stage.
