The Correspondent director Kriv Stenders on the need to support a free press in 2025

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19d ago 29:03

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In December 2013, Australian journalist Peter Greste, alongside fellow Al Jazeera colleagues Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, were arrested in Cairo, Egypt under charges of holding illegal meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation declared as a terrorist group by the Egyptian Interior Ministry.

Kriv Stenders is a prolific Australian filmmaker, with his work spanning features, documentaries, and TV series. His latest film, The Correspondent, translates this period of Greste's life, as documented in his 2017 memoir The First Casualty, to screen, with Richard Roxburgh portraying the award winning journalist.

The Correspondent is a salient reminder of the need for a global free press, and it arrives at a time where journalists around the world, even Australia, are being vilified, condemned, or at worse, being imprisoned or murdered for their work. While The Correspondent considers the legal battles that Greste and his journalistic colleagues endured between 2013 through to 2015, when Greste was released, the film then reflects on another attack on journalists, with Stenders and writer Peter Duncan taking us to another part of Greste's life, when he worked alongside Kate Peyton (portrayed by Yael Stone) in Mogadishu, Somalia in 2011. These scenes act as an insight to the complex ways that reporting from war zones leads to the aggressors violently controlling the passage of information, with The Correspondent then amplifying the message of advocating for free press.

A central aspect to that advocacy is Richard Roxburgh's turn as Peter Greste. Arguably, this is the finest performance of Richard Roxburgh's career, with the weight of expectation, trauma, uncertainty, and grief lingering on his mind, often only appearing through glances or brief looks at his fellow inmates. Roxburgh echoes the work of Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips, another film which sees the acclaimed actor give a career best turn, and in doing so, brings to life Greste in an empathetic and supportive manner. It is as if this is the only performance that matters in his career. It's powerful stuff.

I carry that in mind when I sit down to discuss the film with Kriv Stenders, oddly for the first time in my career. I've long admired Stenders work, from having caught The Illustrated Family Doctor in a small screen at Luna Cinemas Leederville, to being knocked off my feet with Boxing Day and Lucky Country. He then took his filmmaking to a new level with Red Dog and Red Dog: True Blue, and with the back of this run of films, he has examined the role that Australian stories and voices have on our cultural identity. Few filmmakers in Australian cinema get more than one or two films, and yet Stenders has crafted an enduring filmography that comments on and furthers our understanding of what Australian culture, identity, and cinema, can be.

While this is my first time talking with Kriv, I know it won't be my last.

The Correspondent arrives in Australian cinemas on 17 April 2025, with Q&A screenings continuing to take place at select cinemas. Make sure to check your local cinema guide for session details.

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