ACTRESS Yvonne Strahovski will star in a new Cate Blanchett-produced psychological drama, “Stateless,” for the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Blanchett will also have a role in the limited-run, six-episode series, which will have an all-female writing and directing team. Created by Blanchett, Matchbox Pictures’ Tony Ayres and screenwriter Elise McCredie, “Stateless” tells the story of four strangers in an immigration detention center in the Australian desert. An airline hostess escaping a suburban cult, an Afghan refugee fleeing persecution, a young Australian father escaping a dead-end job and a bureaucrat caught up in a national scandal all intersect at the center where they are pushed to the brink of sanity and unlikely and profound emotional connections are made among the group. Inspired by real events, the series intertwines gripping and devastating personal stories, revealing a system struggling with the irreconcilable contradictions of border protection. “Stateless” was originally based on the true story of Cornelia Rau, a German Australian woman who in 2004 escaped a frightening cult only to be trapped in a labyrinth of psychiatric and legal systems, landing her in Australia’s notorious Baxter immigration detention center. “While this story centers on Australia, the dilemmas that it explores through four absorbing characters will resonate globally: the desire for personal freedom, the need for social stability, an escalating lack of faith in the political process and the deeply unsettling impact this has on individual lives,” said Blanchett says of “Stateless.” (SD-Agencies) |