About

Alias Ruby Blade vividly brings this inspiring love story to life through unprecedented access to the subjects and to the Gusmãos’ personal archive including Kirsty’s video footage, photographs, paintings and letters.

Kirsty began filming the key events of her life on Hi-8 video tape from her first visit to East Timor in 1990. Her archive also contains the video “letters” between her and Xanana and tape from her time as an operative in Jakarta all the way up to her return with Xanana to the country devastated by the 1999 violence. Much of this video footage has never been seen before.

Kirsty herself is the primary narrator of Alias Ruby Blade. As her personal story evolves throughout the film, other characters are introduced in meticulously researched archival material and add their voices to the story, telling what they themselves witnessed and experienced. Amongst a host of the key actors in the resistance struggle both International and Timorese, the current President of Timor-Leste, Nobel Laureate José Ramos-Horta appears in a surprisingly candid two-part interview.

Through their collective voices, we learn how the struggle for independence transformed from an armed struggle into an international movement that used the media, diplomacy, non-violent action and the language of human rights to fight for Independence - a lesson that is more relevant than ever before in the world today. The result is a behind-the-scenes exploration of one of the most dramatic events of the 21st Century: the birth and formation of a new independent nation after decades of struggle.

This feature length documentary is to be released in the spring of 2012 which will be the ten year anniversary of the restoration of independence in Timor-Leste – the ideal time to reflect on the successes and failures of ten years of nation building on an unprecedented scale.