Flickerfest: The Soft Skinned searches for connection after war

We speak to Canberra-raised filmmaker Nicky Tyndale-Biscoe about her short film The Soft Skinned which aims to find nuance and empathy in the aftermath of war.

From desperate scenes of families attempting to flee Kabul to devastating footage of indiscriminate death in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, images of war and conflict have permeated our screens.

However Canberra-born filmmaker Nicky Tyndale-Biscoe encourages us to reflect on how people affected by war can heal and find connection in her latest short film The Soft Skinned.

The film, which is included in the Flickerfest short film festival, focuses on the personal and interpersonal ramifications of war from the perspectives of civilians and veterans alike.

Behind the scenes of The Soft Skinned, a new short film by Canberra-born filmmaker Nicky Tyndale-Biscoe.

“The title ‘The Soft Skinned’ refers to the vehicles the Australian Army used in Afghanistan,” she said.

“Soft skin vehicles are often used by Special Forces because they have no armour.

“Therefore they are more vulnerable.”

The film explores the stories of two people with very different experiences of the war in Afghanistan; Kath is a Special Forces medic who has returned to Australia with PTSD, insomnia and night terrors and Ali, an Afghan asylum seeker who has made his way to Australia.

“It’s a film about the reunion of two people who met in Afghanistan who both have scars from that war but from different perspectives,” Ms Tyndale-Biscoe said.

“It’s about the possibility of friendship between them and the healing between them.”

Nicky Tyndale-Biscoe’s new short film The Soft Skinned explores connections between veterans and refugees in the aftermath of war.

The filmmaker said she hopes viewers have empathy for both civilians and veterans touched by war.

“One of the jobs I had living in Canberra was working with the Department of Veterans Affairs,” she said.

“I interviewed returned soldiers and it was some of the women’s stories that really stay with me that became a model for Kath.”

Ms Tyndale Biscoe said following allegations of war crimes committed by Australian soldiers there was a need to both hold wrongdoers accountable, and recognise Australian servicemen and servicewomen who served with honour.

“(Allegations of war crimes) are stomach churning and it messes with the idea of what we were doing over there,” she said.

“Anybody who went down that path should be held accountable.

“But there are thousands and thousands of honourable soldiers who get tainted if we aren’t careful.

“There are lovely stories of villages, hospitals, schools that Australian soldiers built for Afghanistan.”

As a child of a refugee and after working at the Department of Veteran Affairs Nicky Tyndale-Biscoe aims to show how war can affect people in different ways.

For Ms Tyndale-Biscoe, who is a daughter of a Czechoslovakian refugee, stories about people fleeing war and striving to create a new home has always had a personal meaning for her.

“(Growing up in Hackett) I definitely knew we were very different to most of the other kids I went to Lyneham High with,” she said.

“You grew up with a slightly different world with different cultural norms.

“Asylum seeker and refugees are really brave – they have to learn a whole new way of life; language, culture, social rules.”