Mary Meets Mohammad

Streaming video - 2014

The film opens with the Australian government’s surprise announcement to build Tasmania’s first detention centre for 400 male asylum seekers at Pontville on the outskirts of Hobart. The local community erupts with hostility as the Department of Immigration host a public meeting. When a suggestion is made at the local knitting club, to make beanies for the asylum seekers, not everyone is in support. Knitter and elderly Christian woman Mary is strongly opposed to the Muslim asylum seekers. However she becomes curious to see the ‘luxurious life’ the detainees are rumoured to have, so visits the centre a couple of months later, as the beanies are delivered. Mary and four other knitters become regular visitors to the asylum seekers. The ...knitters’ friendships deepen with the men from Afghanistan as they help knitting and craft activities flourish within the detention centre. Asylum seeker Mohammad provides revealing insights of life inside the detention centre and the knitters are surprised by the first hunger strike at the centre. When the detention centre closes after six months some of the refugees decide to settle in Hobart. The knitters stay in contact with them and we see a close relationship develop between Mohammad and Mary. Despite their friendship Mary remains uncomfortable with Mohammad’s Islamic beliefs. more