ABSTRACT
In Australia, the policy of deterrence with regards to asylum seekers is occasionally questioned when the courts insist that it must not violate Australian law, or when sporadic sections of the public shows compassion for individual asylum seekers, especially children. This chapter takes the preoccupation with empathy in documentaries advocating for asylum seekers as a point of departure to understand how the mediation of emotions in late modernity may impact the formation of publics, and possibly facilitate social change. Through a focus on the Australian documentary Freedom Stories (Thomas 2015), I unpack the performance of empathy in a Q&A session after a community screening.
