South Sudanese refugee and emerging filmmaker Ez Eldin is proud of his series of short features, titled 'Focus'.
He says the production highlights the positive work of so many in the community - and afford him an opportunity to tell the important stories.
“It's important for me to be able to express myself in a way that I understand, in a way that I can be able to speak to other people who cannot speak for themselves,” he said.
The latest 'Focus' short features visual artist Marin Manyung, whose striking charcoal and pencil sketches depict the often confronting images of life in war-ravaged South Sudan.
Mr Manyung says the objective of the drawings is to highlight the stark contrasts between life in Australia and his country of origin.
“Life here is not like there, you know - this is like a dreamworld being misunderstood and being misjudged, sometimes you have to stop for a minute and take someone back to exactly where you come from,” he said.
So far Mr Eldin's 'Focus' series has highlighted social workers, students, lawyers and business people from Melbourne’s South Sudanese community.
His 2016 'Big Brother' short film discouraging young South Sudanese men from excessive drinking was widely acclaimed.
Mr Manyung says it's contributed to Mr Eldin becoming a recognised leader and role model within the maligned community, largely through his will to promote positive stories of success.
“He see the good in you and then he drives you up, so at the end of the day he's not doing it for him, he's doing it for you - he's pushing you to follow your dreams a lot more further,” Mr Manyung said.
Next up for the 27-year-old filmmaker is acting as a director's assistant on the much-anticipated drama series 'Sunshine', which focuses a young South Sudanese man in Melbourne's west aspiring to a basketball career in the United States college system.
“Each morning when I wake up, I was humble to be part of a story that is very close to me and also working with the industry people, learning how the film work and how the TV work,” Mr Eldin said.
He's well aware of the challenges confronting young people in the South Sudanese community, and endured his own struggles settling as a younger man - but says he worked hard to find a way.
“It was very, very, very hard and I don't know how I found myself," Mr Eldin said.
"One day I picked up a camera and said, 'I'm going to hold on to that'.
"I was a troublemaker to create change and also to fight for my own voice and find my own vision, and if other people believe in me that's a good thing.”
'Sunshine' will screen on SBS later in 2017.
