Fundraiser - proceeds from the tickets go to the Fred Hollows Foundation

The beautifully restored film, For All the World to See, tells the story of the origin of the Fred Follows Foundation and the phenomenon who made it happen!

It is a cheeky and heart-touching portrait of controversial eye surgeon, Professor Fred Hollows. Flamboyant, forthright and full of contradictions – loved by many and hated by others. Fred’s story is compelling – warts and all. In Eritrea, Nepal and outback Australia, Fred Hollows and his team put into practice his unshakeable belief that you only accomplish yourself when you get involved with the welfare of others. His work to restore sight and improve eye health has become the model for the worldwide programs of the Fred Hollows Foundation. Despite his missionary zeal for eye health, Fred Hollows wasn’t trying to conquer and convert. Rather, his philosophy was to train people to help themselves.

In Eritrea, in 1991, shortly after the country’s victory in a thirty-year war of independence, Fred Hollows and his team worked with single-minded passion to train eye surgeons and establish a factory manufacturing world-class intraocular lenses.

In Nepal, in the mid-1980s and 90s, at Australian-funded eye camps, the plunging valleys and rugged mountain ranges create a dramatic backdrop where Fred Hollows and team worked alongside his friend and protege, Dr Sanduk Ruit and his crew, performing eye surgery in remote villages, giving cataract-blinded people sight-restoring treatment equal to that available in the West.

The film chronicles Hollows' work from the early 1970s to improve the health of Aborigines, co-establishing the Aboriginal Medical Service and the Trachoma Program. Hollows had little tolerance for humbug – his outspoken views on the poor health of Aborigines, or AIDS policy and other issues, gained him friends and critics, variously describing him as snarly or charming. Archival footage, interviews and glimpses of him at home and on the road, with friends and family, complete the portrait of this dynamic man. But whatever you think of him, Fred Hollow's life is an inspiration and his example touches us all.

Thank you to Documentary Australia and to all the donors whose contributions enabled the restoration of the film carried out by Ray Argall, Piccolo Films. The brilliant new digital format means that vital history is not lost, and this inspiring film can be screened worldwide for generations to come.

For All the World to See won Best Documentary at the Australian Film Institute Awards (AFI) in 1993.

Rating

PG

Director

Pat Fiske

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