HOLDING HANDS

There are no sessions available for your selected film.

Dir: Tonnette Stanford & Katherine Wilkinson, Australia, 2009, video, 65min
Genre: Documentary
Identity: Gay

Craig and Shane were holding hands when they fell victim to a brutal hate crime off Oxford Street, Sydney. The image of Craig’s shattered face in the local newspaper and the lack of police investigation led Sydney’s queer community to hold a protest on their behalf, and the couple were nominated leaders of the 2008 Mardi Gras Parade. The hardest year in these young men’s lives is captured through endless surgeries, physical and psychological recovery and their struggle to plan for their future. But despite these challenges, Craig and Shane discover that even in the worst circumstances they can create positive change.

Anti-Violence Panel

Immediately following the session, in the cinema. Presented by the Anti-Violence Project of Victoria

Panelists:

Greg Adkins is the Executive Director of Anti-Violence Project of Victoria Inc. He supports this voluntary position through international consultancy work in capacity development, social inclusion and marginalised communities development and has worked in Asia and within Australia with a range of local organisations. A former Ironman triathlete, Greg is a director of Family Planning Victoria and co-hosts ‘Detours’ on JOY 94.9.

Scott Davis is a Sergeant with Victoria Police and manager of the Victoria Police Gay and Lesbian Advisory Unit. Scott has been with Victoria Police for 22 years having worked at a range of police stations across the south eastern suburbs and the Mornington Peninsula. The GLLO mission is to contribute to the creation of mutual trust between lesbians, gay men, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons so they have increasing confidence in police through the provision of a fair and equitable policing service.

William Leonard has run courses on sexuality and gender at Monash and RMIT Universities, has worked as the Executive Officer with the Victorian Ministerial Advisory Committee on Gay and Lesbian Health and is currently a research fellow at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University.

Martin Foley is one of the Victorian members of parliament privileged to have a significant population drawn from within the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community and he has quickly become a leading advocate for GLBT interests in the time since his election in the September 2007 by-election for that seat. Martin’s recent appointment to chair the Attorney Generals GLBTI Ministerial Advisory Committee, which delivered the ground breaking “With Respect” research in 2009, cements this relationship.

He is an avid supporter and member of the St Kilda Football Club, which is significant in a year in which the International Day Against Homophobia, May 17th, tackles homophobia in the Sporting World. Martin is also a member of the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Fabians and is also the Vice President of the Centre for Policy Development - a National left-of-centre Ideas and Action Institute.