Julian Assange’s biological father John Shipton stands in front of his poster near the Central Criminal Court Old Bailey in London.Credit:AP
Lawrence’s filmIthaka,which will have its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August,includes video-phone calls between Moris-Smith and her fiance from inside London’s Belmarsh Prison,where he has been held since April 2019.
Shipton and Moris-Smitth were not especially willing participants in the film,according to Lawrence,but they put aside their reticence for their shared cause – trying to save Assange. Lawrence said they had seen the film and it felt “authentic”. “But they both felt like they didn’t want to watch it more than once,” he said.
Assange is an absent presence in the film. He has not been photographed since 2019,but the video phone footage,shot between August 2020 and April this year,offers brief glimpses.
At least it will if its director can get clearance to use it. “Because of the ongoing legal hearings everything can be used against them,” Lawrence says. “They’re extremely cautious about what is discussed and how they live their lives.”
Julian Assange and Stella Moris inside the Ecuadorian embassy,in an undated picture supplied by WikiLeaks.Credit:WikiLeaks/PA
Lawrence says the Assange recorded on the phone between August 2020 and May 2021 is “underweight,bearded” and probably experiencing depression. “But he’s surviving,” he says. “He looked better than he did when he was arrested.”
When Assange’s half-brother Gabriel approached the filmmaker last July to see if he’d be interested in working on a documentary,Lawrence assumed he’d be covering the story that began with the release of the material leaked by US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning in 2010. “But when I got to the UK it all fell by the wayside,” he says. “I just became fascinated by John,this man who at a late stage of his life has embarked upon this odyssey across Europe. Then slowly Stella became more and more involved. The people are what grabbed me when I got there.”