We Tell Stories
Story Is connection was founded on the cusp of the pandemic, accordingly the bulk of the work was facilitated and produced online.
Immigration Museum
Installation
“Where are the locals?”
Developed specifically for the Immigration Museum as a multi-screen installation, this film continues to engage visitors and school groups on many levels. It’s a deeply moving experience, inviting the viewer to discover the rich personal stories of international students behind the anonymous collective often presented in the media. It’s an important narrative to include international students into this space which gives voice to their experiences.
Regional Stories from
Migrant Communities
“No one returns my ‘Hi’”
The stories in this beautifully profound film unfold through workshops and interviews with migrant communities in Gippsland. The nuances of being a migrant and from a different culture in Gippsland are sensitively investigated and deeply touching. This project was a collaboration between Story Is Connection and Latrobe Community Health Services (LCHS).
Please contact us for screening opportunities.
Online Covid Stories
Covid Education Crisis
“Oh the bed is very dangerous”
2020 was a year of covid-induced Limbo for 21 international students hailing from Tanzania to Thailand, Bangladesh to Brazil and China to Colombia. Limbo is a fast-paced, fun, humorous and emotional ride!
LIMBO gave participants the chance to share previously untold experiences and raw feelings through artistic expression, gestures and objects in their homes, all captured and directed on Zoom. Watch as they stick notes, throw socks, search for jobs, cook roti, make songs, read, stare, sleep, jump and hide as they attempt to keep their balance in through a turbulent year.
Lived Experience Toolkit
International Student Support
“I’m living, like, two or three lives in one body”
This Lived Experience Toolkit (LET) is grounded in the stories of nine international students studying in New South Wales. A dynamic website that showcases short films revealing the challenges impacting students’ mental health and wellbeing. Innovative and interactive, this toolkit aims to inspire conversation, normalise help seeking whilst destigmatizing 'mental health'.
Online Covid Stories
Covid Education Crisis
“Depression is a long walk with myself”
A co-production between RMIT Training and Story is Connection, this short film was produced during the COVID pandemic when students were caught in the crisis of uncertainty and displacement. Utilising Zoom recordings and directing filming by the students themselves isolated in their own countries, we were able to deliver their Gift of Stories.
Exhibition
Midsumma Festival
“Have we crossed the bridge?”
Developed through young people's own experiences, this was an intimate exhibition about identity and sexuality beyond labels. An immersive exhibition of new artworks made in dialogue between young LGBTQIA+ international students and young, local artists. Over six months, five collaborative pairs participated in creative storytelling workshops. The result was five new artworks and enduring friendships. Presented by Midsumma Festival, SIGNAL and Story is Connection.
The theatre projects underpinning the establishment of SIC.
Act of Translation
Documentary
“With the Aussies I had to train myself to drink”
Over 18 weeks in 2017, international students gathered every Wednesday for theatre workshops, culminating in four incredible booked out performances of ‘She’ll Be Right’. But what about the students’ lives behind the performances? And how did the theatre process really work? This vibrant documentary weaves together an enlightening film about theatre and the lives of international students in Melbourne.
Be You Be Scene
Live Performance
“Six people… only one key!”
Important and vital theatre pieces exposing four areas that most affect international students in Melbourne - Employment, Cultural Diversity, Accomodation and Mental Health.
These performances are powerful, funny and emotional, as always with Catherine’s work, using the power of lived experience theatre to unpack and dig deep to share difficult stories.
Watch the Mental Health performance above.