The dramatised documentary Strangers to the World is having its world premiere online release with the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival until the 15th of July 2020.

Crowdfunded with the Australian Cultural Fund, the film is a dramatized recount of the diaries and letters of Franz Kaegerstaetter and Etty Hillseum, two strangers living through the Second World War.

Key Creatives are producer Jannine Barnes and writer/director/producer Grant Fraser. Cast includes Rachel Griffiths (Ride Like a Girl, Six Feet Under) as Etty Hillesum, and Oscar Redding (Puberty Blues, Van Diemen’s Land) as Franz Jaegerstaetter.

Strangers to the World examines individual moral courage in the face of almost overwhelming pressure from the world to conform, and in doing so, act against the collective conscience. Two real people from history, Etty Hillesum and Franz Jaegerstaetter, both portrayed by outstanding Australian actors, bring to life deeply challenging issues in narrated and dramatized sequences. Each story is rendered more start and powerful for being drawn from their own words, through letters and historical material.

From director Grant Fraser: “This film is about two people, Etty Hillesum and Franz Jaegerstaetter, who stood their ground at great personal cost by weighing the demands of conscience against the most profound longings of their humanity. It is structured as a narrative documentary in which the stories are told in the context of their times, enhanced by dramatic scenes from their lives focusing on the times in which each character’s humanity was most confused and tested: the times when they are called to account to those they most love.”