BY SEB MOTTRAM

The director behind Cathy Freeman documentary Freeman, aired by the ABC in early September, has revealed the incredible pressure she felt in redelivering Australians one of their favourite stories. 

Freeman premiered to worldwide acclaim, but more importantly, it was celebrated by Australians.

The story of Freeman’s gold medal in the Sydney 2000 Olympic games is an important story to tell, and more so an important story to remember in Australia's history.

The behind-the-scenes story of the making of the documentary is just as intriguing and genuine with how director Laurence Billiet was able to capture a nation. 

Ms Billiet, 48, is a French-Australian citizen and owner of creative company General Strike, and in her own words was “terrified” of what the Australian public would think of her if she got this story wrong. 

“I was very aware from the get-go that this story belongs to everyone,” Ms Billiet said.

“Contemplating the idea at the start, and beginning to work on it, it was vertigo-inducing from [so] much pressure.”  

Freeman was in production for more than three years and centres on the complex intertwining of reconciliation and its role in Freeman’s famous gold medal.

The way Indigenous Australians were seen and treated was a significant political issue at the time, as it is now. In the same year the Olympic Games were held in Sydney, 250,000 people climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge to push for reconciliation.

Freeman also famously carried both the Aboriginal and Australian flags on her victory lap, after stunning the world to claim the 400 metre sprint.

“There’s obviously a lot of unresolved stuff that the movie asks questions about. Hopefully that can help people have a renewed desire to solve that problem,” Ms Billiet said. 

But in creating the film, it was also important for Ms Billiet to stick to what Australians love to remember.

“It was very important the athlete’s journey was driving this… [But in the same way] I saw them as two parallel stories,” she said.

The documentary was commissioned to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of Freeman’s incredible gold medal victory in front of her home crowd, in the Games where she also had the honour of lighting the Olympic torch. 

Freeman’s moment-in-time has infamously become one of Australia’s most remembered sporting moments, as she showcased herself, her culture, and her country on the international stage.

This coming together of different elements in Freeman's journey is beautifully crafted into Ms Billiet’s recollection of time, allowing Australians to fondly remember the journey  20 years later. 

“These events don’t come around often, people are lucky if they’ve seen one or two [moment’s like Freeman’s gold]," she said.

"We’ve gone 20 years and haven’t seen anything like this.

“The story presses our button in a way that I find magical and also quite profound as to what it means. It was crucial we got this right.”

One of the key aspects to the documentary was always going to be Freeman’s role in the piece, with strong trust between her and Ms Billiet being key to its success.

Ms Billiet described Freeman as a “joy to work with,” and attributed this as a genuine reason as to why the documentary was received so well. 

“Her language was like poetry to me, what she said was incredible...she really did surprise me with how articulate she was.” 

While the vast majority of media on the documentary was incredibly positive, State Liberal MP Tim Smith drew controversy on Twitter for appearing to downplay the importance of the Aboriginal flag in a series of tweets during its screening.

It raised an issue that is heavily discussed by Freeman in the documentary; the political divide of those who support her and acknowledge her heritage, and those who refuse to. 

“[The film shows] all the people in power, who just do not get it. And then the people on the street like, yeah, go get it. Of course, like what's the big deal for us? She's indigenous, she's Australian,” Ms Billiet said. “[Those tweets from Tim Smith] were the epitome of how we’ve come a long way but we’ve still got a long way to go.”

However, Ms Billiet wasn’t focused on Mr Smith’s comments during the screening, as she’d already received the only approval she said she needed. “Cathy Freeman loved the film, and for me that's the number one thing. She thinks it's representative of the journey, and particularly of the race as well. It was after she told me that, I really didn’t have any fear about it anymore.” 

As for the legacy of her work, Ms Billiet is hopeful that it can inspire a new generation to achieve something like Freeman did. “(I’d love us) to take that cue from Cathy Freeman, in order to inspire us to achieve our best as a nation. I think that would be wonderful.”