by FilmInk Staff
Little is known about Australia’s Japanese internment camps from World War 2. Many wouldn’t even know they existed.
When Gabriel Murphy came across this little-known aspect of our history, he set out on a journey to shed a light on it.
“Since I was a child, I have always been trying to decipher the truth in history,” Murphy shares with us. “I have always been moved and upset by the stories of Australia’s colonial history. That’s always been a part of my life, trying to deprogram and understand the nuances of our history. So, around 2020, when I had started my Masters degree at AFTRS [Australian Film Television and Radio School], I began deep diving on Google, trying to find inspiration for my capstone project, and I came across the internment of Japanese-Australians during World War 2 in Australia.”
Murphy’s short hybrid documentary, Enemy Alien, follows Joseph Clement Kisaburō Murakami, a Broome-born Japanese Australian who was sent to an internment camp as ‘enemy alien’ during WWII with his family when he was a teenager.
“Every article or paper I found while researching was referencing this one woman, Dr. Yuriko Nagata,” Murphy says. “I found out she was at the University of Queensland, just down the street from me back then, so I thought I’d go and introduce myself. I had a chat with her and said I really want to make a film about this story, and her response was ‘I don’t think anyone cares anymore’. She mentioned that there was only this one guy who had a real living memory of it, but that he was in a retirement home in Japan.”
Much of the filmmaker’s experience making Enemy Alien was impacted by COVID, making connecting with Murakami almost impossible.
“We tried to go through the borders into Japan, but they weren’t letting anyone in,” Murphy says. “It was fortress Japan. I knew so many Japanese citizens in Australia and they couldn’t get in, so there was no way I was going to get in. And then there was the fact that Joe was in a retirement home, so even if I managed to get there, they wouldn’t let me in to see him. I ended up learning Japanese with the sole focus to talk to him over the phone.”
Murphy was finally able to get in touch with Murakami, which opened the doors to a beautiful connection.
“He’s Australian and speaks perfect English. We really enjoyed talking to each other because it is rare for him to be able to speak English in Japan, so I was one of the only people he could practice his English with.”
For Murphy, doing his Masters in Documentary at the Australian Film Television and Radio School allowed him to meld his passion for fiction filmmaking with his love of documentary. “I really believe that fiction filmmaking and documentary filmmaking are so similar. It’s just that sometimes documentary is regarded as second-tier filmmaking,” Murphy says. “I went into the documentary course at AFTRS because I knew I could make the most of their resources and really give my project the production value documentaries deserve. I told myself that I am going to make the documentary with the biggest budget, using all the equipment and working with every person. The main thing I knew I needed to get access to all of that is a damn good story.”
Murphy knew he had a good story once he was able to connect to Murakami on a deeper level than he originally imagined. “I felt this certain kinship with Joseph because I had also moved as a child and I felt so spun out by that,” Murphy shares. “He also just sounded so much like my grandfather because at the end of the day, he is Australian. I think the reason I felt so comfortable directing this story is because of the fact that Joseph is a second-generation Australian, and his experience was so incredibly singular.”
Enemy Alien has enjoyed a successful festival run that included the Antenna Documentary Film Festival and Revelation Perth International Film Festival. However, just as the filmmakers felt an end looming on their festival journey, Murphy was met with one of the most exciting emails of all.
“We had this incredible festival run in Australia, especially in Brisbane, where all my family was able to come down,” Murphy says. “I was so happy with that run and honestly I was pretty geared up to move on to the next project, and then we got the notification from Doc NYC, and I scrapped all my plans.”
Murphy says he doesn’t know what to expect at America’s biggest documentary film festival, but he is going in with an open heart and open mind (as well as a few pitch decks).
Enemy Alien will be playing on November 14 and 15 at Doc NYC 2023
