ANSWERED BY FIRE

In 1975, the Portuguese colony of Timor was occupied by Indonesian forces. Over the next two decades, hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives in an ongoing battle for independence. In 1999, in a UN-supervised referendum, the conflict zone of East Timor finally won its freedom as the world’s newest independent democracy—a historic move of with mixed results for a country in transition.

Arriving in the town of Nunura—secured by the Indonesia militia to protect the recent ballot—Julie Fortin (Isabelle Blais, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) is forced to drive through a military blockade to gain entry to the UN base. Seconds later, as she is introduced to commanding officer Mark Waldman (David Wenham, Lord of the Rings) and Timorese interpreter Ismenio Soares, the militia attacks. It is led by Sico, who will stop at nothing to sabotage the ballot, even intimidating his own cousin Ismenio, and his pro-independent family. But no one is really prepared for the bloody reality of what will follow.

Struggling to protect the Timorese while entangled in a web of politics, violence, and mistrust, Mark and Julie embark on their vital missions. For Julie, it’s risking her life in a perilous trek into the hills to persuade the 300 guerrillas in hiding to exercise their newfound political freedom by voting. For Mark, it’s wrestling with local authorities to disarm the rebel forces. But after the UN withdraws, Timor plunges into lawlessness and is set ablaze by the Indonesian militia leaving Mark and Julie, their friends, and the people they promised to protect, profoundly and irrevocably changed by history.

A story of love, courage, and worlds in collision, based on true-life events, Answered by Fire is a riveting dramatisation of a monumental, gripping, and explosive international event.