Deschutes Public Library

Mike and Stefani

videorecording

Mike and Stefani

921960440

Originally produced by National Film and Sound Archive of Australia in 1952

57

Made just after World War Two, Mike and Stefani follows a family of displaced persons from their refugee camp in a devastated Germany to their new home in Australia. It features moving re-enactments of their travails in Europe, chronicling the wartime separation of the young Ukrainian couple, the difficulties of the labour camps, the loneliness and chaos, their eventual reunion and their application to emigrate. The final sequences, filmed as they actually occurred in Bavaria, shows their selection interview and journey to Australia with some of their family. Made for the Department of Immigration, the film had a two-fold purpose: to counter criticism within Australia that immigration selection procedures for displaced persons were inadequate and that "undesirables" were slipping through the net; and to encourage Australians to accept the sudden influx of non-British immigrants in the immediate post-war years. More than half a century later, the subject matter of this romantic yet gritty realist drama is as relevant as ever. A tribute to the resilience of the human spirit and an eye-opening look at immigration experiences. Produced for the Department of Immigration by the Department of the Interior. Copyright - 2011 National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Director: R Maslyn Williams Writer: Roland Loewe DOP/Cinematographer: R.G. Pearse Featured People: Mycola Strokon (Mike), Stefani Strokon, Ginga, Ladu, Valerie Paling

live action