Brozzi's search for his daughter Reya brought him to the Sunshine Coast in 2010. Picture: Megan Slade Source: The Courier-Mail
Camilla Ellefsen is believed to be living in Australia with her daughter Reya. Picture: Megan Slade Source: The Courier-Mail
- Daughter abducted in 2002
- Father searched for her without success
- Film made to help her find him
A DESPERATE dad who has spent more than a decade searching for his parentally abducted daughter has made a movie to help her find him.
Brozzi Lunetta said he wrote and produced fictional film Reya, named after his 11-year-old daughter, since losing faith in the Australian authorities to locate her.
Reya was abducted by her mother, Camilla Ellefsen, from the US amid a bitter custody battle in 2002.
Ms Ellefsen, 40, fled with Reya to Norway and India before arriving in Perth in February 2004 on a Norwegian passport.
There has since been a string of possible sightings in south-east Queensland and northern NSW.
“Reya's birthday (last June) and the 10-year anniversary of her abduction were incredibly difficult,'' Mr Lunetta said.
“I'm holding on but it's been a pretty exhausting experience.
“The reason I want to share my life story is so that my daughter can find me.''
A dozen actors including Yohanna Idha, who won best actress at the Stockholm International Film Festival in 2011, have worked on the feature film for free.
Watch the trailer here. The movie, which has been edited, will screen in Stockholm next month.
“It's a tough movie, it's a beautiful movie,'' Mr Lunetta said.
“In it a detective who is investigating a crime has these recurring nightmares and starts to believe that the murder victim, this young woman in her 20s, is his daughter who disappeared 20 years earlier.
“It's my way to use a fictional tale to get the story out there again, to remind people that my daughter is still missing and perhaps if we could get Camilla's face out there it would lead to new information.”
In 2010 News Limited revealed a series of Australian Federal Police bungles had allowed the fugitive mother to elude authorities and remain on the run in this country for almost a decade.
In 2006 the Norwegian singer had been hiding with her then five-year-old daughter in Goonengerry, southwest of Mullumbimby, before slipping through the net in a bungled AFP raid.
The AFP has since refused to comment but it is understood its investigation folded shortly after the incident when leads on the pair's location dried up.
The American father, now based in Norway, was awarded sole custody of Reya after his ex-wife failed to comply with a court order related to custody arrangements.
He is considering a fourth trip to Australia once the film is released.
“Unfortunately the authorities are not going to find my daughter 10 years later,'' he said.
“They had their chance, they searched the wrong property in NSW and they made a muck of it basically.
“The AFP has hinted that she was somehow able to get out of Australia (and go back to Norway) but we've been offered no real, legitimate or concrete proof.''
Mr Lunetta said the Norwegian authorities had also contradicted that theory.
“They believe she's not here; that she is still in Australia. So right now I'm in limbo,'' he said.
“If the AFP is so convinced that my daughter was brought back to Scandinavia, why won't they say that on the record or give us proof of that?
“There were tonnes of proof that she entered Australia from India into Perth but there's no proof whatsoever that she left.
“It's literally been police officials telling somebody to tell me, off the record, that she's gone.''
Despite this, both mother and child remain listed as missing on the Family Court of Australia website.
The filmmaker, who has since re-married, said he did not want to see Reya separated from her mother.
“I just want to be a part of my daughter's life and for her to know she has this incredible family waiting for her,'' he said.
“I was never looking for sole custody.
“It's always been about giving her more love not less love.''
Ms Ellefsen's mother Eivor said she was aware of the film.
“I am happy to have two grandchildren (in Norway) which give sun and happiness into my life,’’ she said.
“But still I miss my third grandchild and my daughter very much.
“I think of them every day – usually right before I go to sleep, sending them all the positive energy I can.’’
The AFP referred all inquiries to the Attorney General's Department.
The department issued a statement that said it "does not confirm or provide comment on Hague child abduction cases to protect the privacy of those involved".
Email kristin.shorten@news.com.au or follow @itsKShort on Twitter
