Movies by Sascha Ettinger-Epstein
The Oasis
Tough kids from tough backgrounds living dangerous lives - these are the young people of the Oasis, a grimy brick youth refuge in inner-city Sydney. No story is too horrific, no circumstance too dire, no kid too damaged for its tireless director, Captain Paul Moulds. Father figure, counselor, saviour and an orphan himself, Paul is nothing short of a legend amongst those who stumble in at breaking point with nowhere left to go. This raw observational documentary filmed over two years captures Paul's daily battle to save these lost children of...
Life After the Oasis
In 2008, feature documentary, The Oasis, shocked Australia with its gritty insight into the lives of homeless teens at a notorious youth refuge in inner city Sydney. An outpouring of social and political goodwill followed, with the then Prime Minister pledging to halve homelessness by 2020. A decade later, with social inequality and homelessness worse than ever, the original participants reflect on where their lives have taken them.
The Department
THE DEPARTMENT is a feature documentary which takes us inside the never-before-seen child protection system at work in NSW. Filmed in an observational style, it follows caseworkers across the state as they navigate the complexities of keeping children safe in families experiencing domestic violence, addiction, poverty, mental health issues and intergenerational trauma.
Wall Boy
A young runaway falls prey to the city's darkest vice market - a youth worker on a visiting outreach bus becomes fixated with saving him.