CODE BLACK/RIOT - TRAILER (2025-2026)

Four-channel digital video, colour, sound, 33 mins 

 

Code Black/Riot is a seminal collaboration between visual artists Hoda Afshar and Vernon Ah Kee and writer Behrouz Boochani, that exposes how youth detention systems target and violate the human rights of First Nations children in Australia. Taking its name from the language used within these institutions, the work presents interviews with children and staff, interspersed with film taken of the subjects at play, revealing the violence inherent in a system that works to deprive children of a future.

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While Code Black/Riot considers youth incarceration broadly, filming took place in North Queensland, Country connected to Vernon Ah Kee. The decision of the artists to work together on this project reflects their shared belief that the crisis of mass incarceration of First Nations youth in Australia is an issue that demands not only national attention, but also collective action.

Also part of the Code Black/Riot project is an original text from Behrouz Boochani in which the writer reflects on his lived experience inside an Australian immigration detention centre on Manus Island and the parallels he sees with the system of First Nations youth detention; a series of collaborative portrait photographs by Hoda Afshar; and a group of colour field paintings by Vernon Ah Kee.

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This project was developed through a series of community visits, relational dialogue and time on Country, facilitated and supported by First Nations-led advocacy organisation Change the Record with additional support from YETI (Youth Empowered Towards Independence).
 

Director: Hoda Afshar 

Producers: Vernon Ah Kee & Hoda Afshar 

Cinematography: James Wright 

Editors: Hoda Afshar & James Wright 

Sound design: Byron Dean & Timothy Johannessen 

Colourist: Peter Hatzipavlis 

Research: Behrouz Boochani, Vernon Ah Kee & Hoda Afshar 

Cultural advisors: Change the Record and Vernon Ah Kee 

Music by: Timothy Johannessen 

Supported by: Change the Record and YETI (Youth Empowered Towards Independence)