Do you or a member of your family have a story to tell about migrating to Australia from Europe?
An award-winning filmmaker will be visiting Griffith in June and is seeking people who have an interesting story to tell about their own experiences of migrating from war-torn and communist areas within Europe in the 1940's and 1950's. Some of these stories will be included in a unique documentary to be shown at Griffith Regional Theatre in August.
The documentary, "Bonegilla – the Migrant's Journey", has already sold-out venues across Australia and contains interviews with post-war migrants that passed through Bonegilla migrant camp, located near Albury.
Filmmaker Simon Reich is looking to expand on this original documentary by speaking with Griffith locals who may have passed through or had a connection with Bonegilla, but also those who may have other experiences of moving to Australia, such as being sponsored, or being married by proxy or any of a myriad of experiences migrants of this time had. Ideally the interview subjects will have been teenagers or adults when they migrated and have first-hand stories to tell about their migration experience.
Anyone interested is invited to complete a questionnaire to determine their suitability for being interviewed and filmed when Mr Reich visits in June. Those chosen to be filmed may be included in the documentary, and will be able to retain a copy of the interview for themselves and their families, and Griffith City Library will also be keeping the interviews as part of their local history collection.
The questionnaire is available here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MRQPMPK or on the Griffith Regional Theatre website, and paper copies are available at the Theatre or the library. Anyone needing assistance to complete the survey is invited to call in or contact the Theatre or Library where the staff will be happy to assist. The questionnaire will remain open until the end of May 2026, after which time the filmmaker will decide who to meet and film in June.
