ETimor capital shuts down for movie invasion remake

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

DILI (AFP) — Filmmakers recreated scenes of chaos in the heart of East Timor's sleepy capital Thursday, blocking streets and sending up plumes of smoke for an Australian movie on Indonesia's bloody 1975 invasion.

Between 60 and 70 locals took part and 30 East Timorese soldiers dressed as Indonesian troops holding fake rifles in the filming of Australian film "Balibo," United Nations police said.

Dili residents were given advance warning of the filming to avoid traffic chaos and distress in a city where the wounds of Indonesia's 24-year occupation are still raw, police said.

Dominga Martins, a 57-year-old Dili resident who acted as an extra in the movie, said the filming brought back painful memories of Indonesian troops storming into the city when she was a...