“Over the last few years, the Australian government has been leaning hard into an anti-refugee plan known as “the Pacific Solution.” Created to stop the arrival of boats filled with asylum seekers from countries like Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, the Pacific Solution is a program that reads like something out of Donald Trump’s playbook: deter refugees from trying to enter your country by capturing every single one and indefinitely locking them up in a detainment camp on a remote island. It’s cruel, but as shown in the new documentary Chasing Asylum, it has worked with shocking effectiveness. […]

In Chasing Asylum, Australian director Eva Orner breaks the veil of secrecy around the camps with a compilation of footage that was illegally recorded by whistleblowers and social workers inside the detention centers. VICE spoke with her in Toronto, before the film’s premiere at Hot Docs, to hear more about what went into the film and the repercussions of blowing the whistle on an entire country.”

Read more about the documentary on VICE and watch the trailer below