"Film helps us win the battle of silence and creates space for us because we are going to win the truth."
Wensislaus Fatubun, a PhD student at the University of Canterbury, specialises in media and Pacific studies. He tutors PACS111-26S1 2026 at the University of Canterbury. He has worked since 2003 as a filmmaker, photographer, journalist, and human rights defender with Indigenous communities in Tanah Papua and in several places in Indonesia, including Kalimantan, the Flores Islands, and North Sulawesi. He has written investigative reports and made films since 2006. From 2008 to 2012, he was a program manager for JPIC MSC in Jakarta. He founded Papuan Voices in Tanah Papua in 2011 and Dayak Voices and Ranu Welum in Kalimantan in 2013. He coordinated monitoring and research for the Secretariat for Justice and Peace in Merauke, Tanah Papua. He is an alumnus of the Diplomacy Training Program and Geneva for Human Rights, participating in programs in 2012 and 2013. Since 2017, he has been involved with Geneva for Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples projects. From 2019 to 2022, he was a media and communication strategist and human rights advisor for the Papuan People’s Assembly, and in 2022 he served on the UN panel at the UN Business and Human Rights Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2024, he participated in the UNCCD COP 16 in Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Latest academic articles:
Fatubun, Wensislaus. (2023). Papuan Voices: An Initiative for Decolonized Filmmaking to Document Indigenous People’s Lived Experiences in West Papua: Decolonizing Visualities. Video Journal of Education and Pedagogy. 8. 1-15. 10.1163/23644583-bja10044
Fatubun, W (eds). (2021). Hilangnya Rasa Aman Di Papua Barat, Laporan Kelompok Kerja Hak Asasi Manusia Majelis Rakyat Papua 2021. Jayapura: Majelis Rakyat Papua.
Fatubun, W., and Triharyanto, B (eds). (2019). Kekerasan Tak Berujung Di Nduga, Laporan Majelis Rakyat Papua 2019. Jayapura: Majelis Rakyat Papua.
Fatubun, W. (2019). “La caméra: arme de choix d’un activiste de Papouasie occidentale” dans Cinémas autochtones: des représentations en mouvement, de la plume à l’écran. France: Cicada-dialog & Gitpa.
Media Projects:
The Papuan Voices (2011). https://papuanvoices.net/
The Dayak Voices for Change (2013). https://www.youtube.com/@dayakvoicesforchange4176
Papua Storyteller. https://www.youtube.com/@WensislausFatubun
Mama Tineke Returns Home (2015). Documentary. https://www.biak-tribunal.org/tineke-rumakabu-returns-home/
Awards:
