Montreal: Answered by Fire, a CBC miniseries from Montreal’s Muse Entertainment about the 1999 referendum in East Timor and its bloody aftermath, started shooting in Australia on June 27, with plans to wrap by the end of August.

Quebec actress Isabelle Blais (Savage Messiah) stars with Australia’s David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) in the four-hour mini, about an RCMP officer who volunteers for a peacekeeping mission in East Timor and an Australian policeman who commands the civilian police force there. New Zealander Jessica Hobbs (Love My Way) directs.

Muse is coproducing with Mindless Entertainment of Uxbridge, ON, and Aussie prodco Beyond Simpson Le Mesurier.

Roger Le Mesurier and Andy Walker produce the $7.5-million miniseries, which marks the first dramatic coproduction between the CBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Executive producer Barbara Samuels (North of 60) and Australia’s Katherine Thomson wrote the screenplay based on extensive interviews with East Timorese and members of the U.N. mission who survived the 1999 violence.

Also exec producing are Michael Prupas, Roger Simpson and Mikael Borgland.