3553 is proud to host the screening of Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time, by Behrouz Boochani and Arash Kamali Sarvestani. This film presented as part of the public program for our current exhibition, Immobilities

All proceeds from ticket sales go towards the filmmakers' licensing. Any additional proceeds will be donated to RISE.

Event Details:
Date:10 September 2025
Time: 6:15pm
Film Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Location: 35-53 Emma St, Collingwood

Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time

Filmed on a mobile phone from inside Manus Island detention centre, journalist and Manus Island detainee, Behrouz Boochani, collaborated in secret with Iranian-Dutch filmmaker, Arash Kamali Sarvestani, to produce this film. The result offers audiences a rare glimpse into life behind the security gates for hundreds of asylum seekers currently held in indefinite detention. We are offered first hand accounts of mistreatment, intimidation and the psychological strain that many detainees experience day to day. As Tom Clift (Junkee Magazine) expressed, “It’s impossible to sit through Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time without feeling an overwhelming sense of shame.” The film’s purpose is to provide a voice to the silenced perspectives of Manus Island detainees and we owe it to them to listen.

Arash Kamali Sarvestani was born in 1981 in Tehran, Iran. He studied Cinema at the Art university of Tehran. In 2009 he moved to Amsterdam to study at Gerrit Rietveld Academy. He graduated in Fine Arts with the major in Audiovisual. Currently he is based in Eindhoven.

Behrouz Boochani graduated from Kharazmi (Tarbiat Moallem University) and Tarbiat Modares University, both in Tehran; he holds a Masters degree in political science, political geography and geopolitics.

Behrouz is a Kurdish writer, journalist, scholar, cultural advocate and filmmaker. He was a writer for the Kurdish language magazine Werya; is Associate Professor in Social Sciences at UNSW; non-resident Visiting Scholar at the Sydney Asia Pacific Migration Centre (SAPMiC), University of Sydney; Honorary Member of PEN International; and winner of an Amnesty International Australia 2017 Media Award, the Diaspora Symposium Social Justice Award, the Liberty Victoria 2018 Empty Chair Award, and the Anna Politkovskaya award for journalism.

He publishes regularly with The Guardian, and his writing also features in The Saturday Paper, Huffington Post, New Matilda, The Financial Times and The Sydney Morning Herald. Boochani is also co-director (with Arash Kamali Sarvestani) of the 2017 feature-length film Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time; and collaborator on Nazanin Sahamizadeh's play Manus.

Boochani's book, No Friend But The Mountains: Writing From Manus Prison won the 2019 Victorian Prize for Literature in addition to the Nonfiction category. He has also won the Special Award at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, the Australian Book Industry Award for Nonfiction Book of the Year, and the National Biography Prize. It has been published in 18 languages in 23 countries and is currently being adapted for both stage and screen.

Behrouz has been appointed adjunct associate professor in the faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of NSW and visiting professor at Birkbeck Law School at the University of London.

He was a political prisoner incarcerated by the Australian government in Papua New Guinea for almost seven years. In November 2019 Behrouz escaped to New Zealand. He now resides in Wellington, New Zealand.

3553 is a public event space dedicated to the exploration of ideas that affect the built environment. Operated by OFFICE, a design and research practice committed to advancing critical dialogue, 3553 fosters collaboration across disciplines, communities, and borders. The space offers a platform for local, national, and international practitioners, students, researchers, and academics to showcase innovative work, share insights, and engage in meaningful conversations. Through a diverse program of exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and public events, 3553 invites audiences to engage with the evolving landscape of design, while creating a space for education, critical thought, and creative exchange.