Description:
New
country. New school. New life. After fleeing war and persecution in
the Middle East, many teenagers find themselves facing a brand new
stage—beyond the horror they've endured along the way, high-school
in Sydney, Australia, is a vastly different challenge. Yet with the
help of an innovative theatre program, a unique opportunity awaits.
When a group of survivors hailing from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan
and Serbia meet after school to share their incredible personal
experiences, they each realize they are not alone. As they confront
their darkest memories, a powerful transformation begins. Revealing
"Storm Stories"—the stories that made them refugees —and
mastering them for the stage, is a cathartic yet problematic process,
and the group face a range of disasters on opening night. Steering
the ship are three passionate teachers under enormous pressure to
provide every child with a bright future. Cast from the Storm provides a raw and intimate insight into this turbulent and deeply
moving journey. As the curtains are raised, silence descends. For
some students, this will be the performance of their lives.
Biography: David
Mason is undertaking Cast from the Storm after five years
working for the Seven Network as a director and producer in on-air
promotions and in Seven's cross-media marketing production company
Red Engine. Outside his work at Seven, David has written, produced
and edited several short films and music videos. In 2012, one of
these shorts A Little Bit Behind (co-writer/co-editor), gained
official selection to screen at the Cannes Film Festival. David left
the Seven Network in 2013 to undertake Cast from the Storm full-time.
He was struck by the opportunity to share a hugely powerful story
about forced migration that focuses on the triumph of the human
spirit rather than the politics.
