Shirley Shackleton passed away in January this year. This special premiere screening of Circle of Silence is a memorial event to honour her rich life. There will be tributes by Steve Bracks, former Premier of Victoria and Patron of the Balibo House Trust and Kirsty Sword Gusmao, Founder and Chair of the Alola Foundation in Timor Leste. The event is supported by the Balibo House Trust and the Australia East Timor Association. Make sure to also stay behind after the credits for a post film Q&A with the filmmakers.
Circle of Silence is a powerful human drama, a cold case investigation and a politically explosive story. It is inspired by Shirley Shackleton’s Walkley Award winning book of the same name. It uncovers new evidence about the notorious 1975 murders of five Australian based journalists, the Balibó Five, killed in Portuguese Timor whilst reporting on Indonesian military incursions. Shirley’s husband, Greg Shackleton, a Channel 7 reporter, was one of the men murdered. Shirley’s life has been marked by a fierce determination to discover the truth about the deaths and why Australia did not protest over the murders and subsequent genocide in East Timor. She starts her own investigation following the decision by the Australian Federal Police to abandon its war crimes investigation into the Balibó Five murders due to ‘insufficient evidence’. Shirley disagrees with the decision and travels to Timor Leste and Indonesia to discover startling new evidence about the crime. Circle of Silence was completed in 2022 shortly before Shirley’s passing. An impact campaign accompanies the film and continues Shirley’s determined efforts to uncover the truth about the Balibó Five murders and Australia’s involvement in the cover-up and in the invasion of East Timor.