Ithaka: An Exploration of 76-Year-Old Retired Builder John Shipton's Tireless Campaign to Save his Son, Julian Assange
On tour now, at a theater near you.
If Julian is extradited to the United States to face these charges, he will be the first, but not the last. - Daniel Ellsberg
I attended a screening of the new Assange documentary Ithaka on Wednesday night at the NoHo Laemmle.
The film was released in 2021, and "depicts the incarceration of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange through the experience of his wife Stella Moris and his father John Shipton. It premiered at the Sydney Film Festival on November 7th 2021." According to Wikipedia, "the film won Best Documentary at the Capricorn Film Festival and Audience Award at the Berlin Human Rights Film Festival. It was reviewed across the British and Australian press and holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes."
I love the Laemmle, and seeing films there is always a special occasion for me, especially one with as much relevancy and meaning as this one. I am disappointed that the film is only screening one time. Why not for an entire week like all the others? There is a disturbing thread of propaganda that flows through the Laemmle, and I’m sure that’s why the film only had a single showing. (There were three other screenings in the L.A. area. Two have yet to happen, so if you’re interested, go here for all of the remaining tour dates nation-wide.)
It's a small theater, and as much as I hate crowds, I was saddened to see it didn't even seem to be half full. Why wasn't it promoted harder? I would have expected Assange's father, John Shipton, and brother, Gabrial Shipton (also one of the film's producers), to have appeared on a ton of shows to promote the event. Say, for example, Jimmy Dore, who lives not ten minutes away from where the film was screened, or maybe Kim Iversen, also based in Los Angeles.
I did hear about the screening somewhere, so it’s not that they didn’t promote it at all. It just feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. UPDATE: SEE CORRECTION BELOW.
When I heard that John was going to be the subject of the film, I was a bit thrown, but then I realized that there are other documentaries where we can learn about how Assange got to where he is. (Currently in His Majesty's Prison Belmarsh in London, awaiting extradition to the United States for practicing the art of journalism, where conditions are sure to be even harsher.)
Julian's wife, Stella Moris, and their children are also heavily featured, as well as Julian himself. I think the true “subjects” here are the powerful bonds between Julian and his family, and the struggle they all face. Even Julian's five year-old sister is affected by her father, John, being away from Australia for months at a time fighting for his son's freedom.
It is an extremely moving film, and one I recommend everyone see. It features footage of Julian in the embassy, where he is so often accused by the likes of Joy Behar of making a mess, which you can clearly see is not the case.
Something of a love story between Julian and his family, it is extremely personal, and at times you feel like you shouldn't be listening to some of the more intimate and painful phone conversations, especially between Julian and Stella.
Q&A with John and Gabrial was conducted by ACLU Executive Director Hector Villagra and ACLU SoCal President Rana Sharif. The audience shocked me with their demands and interruptions, as if they were owed some sort of Q&A with the price of admission, constantly yelling at the speakers to "speak up"! But humans will be humans, even if they're for peace I guess. That's what makes all of this so hard.
Another shocker for me happened once the lights came on and I realized most of the audience were senior citizens. Why is every peace event devoid of young people? They are the ones who will inherit this disaster. It’s all very depressing.
My favorite question was from a guy who pressed the ACLU panel moderators about their organization’s endorsement of inhumane Covid policy, and how they claim to be for human rights while supporting vaccine mandates. Of course they weasled out of answering the question. It was great that people called them on it, yelling out "you won't answer that one, will you?" They never did.
I find the mandate issue to be extremely relevant because Julian suffered a stroke in 2021, after being forced to take the vaccine. They claim the stroke was a result of the prison conditions, but I don't know how they could know that. According to John from an interview at the time, "So he has no choice in this. No choice about anything. He has no control over his body."
Just to remind readers, this is what the ACLU has to say about vaccine mandates: "Far from compromising civil liberties, vaccine mandates actually further them. They protect the most vulnerable among us, including people with disabilities and fragile immune systems, children too young to be vaccinated, and communities of color hit hard by the disease."
Learn more about the ACLU and mandates here.
Here's a review of the evening, much better written than mine, but doesn't include the bit about the ACLU and mandates, which is the main reason why I wrote this. What would you expect from a "progressive" paper, right?
Please try to attend a screening. The world needs your help. If Julian is sentenced to the 175 years they want to give him, I think the ability for us to tell the truth, even here on Substack, will be gone forever, along with any hope for a free future.
CORRECTION: I was wrong, John Shipton was on Jimmy’s show, but it was Aaron who interviewed him, and this is where I learned about the screening.