A home-brewed, action-packed television drama designed to generate healthy dialogue on social conflict issues in strife-torn Timor-Leste. Suku Hali (“Shade-Tree Village”) was made by the International Organisation for Migration, and supported by the European Union and the Timorese government. To make the first ever Timorese telenovela the young production team was trained from scratch, taking two years to create the twenty exciting episodes that grabbed viewers with engaging characters, comedy and tragedy. The show was very careful when presenting sensitive ideas, walking a fine line when addressing recent painful events and showing positive messages. The ambitious show had four parts, each with a different theme: Sidade X (“City X”) was about refugees returning to their communities from camps. Dada Tali (“Tug of War”) was about local elections as a way to fight corruption. As Kopas (“Ace of Hearts”) was about romance, ghosts and reconciliation with history. Trambe (“Explosion”) was about gang violence, and non-violent solutions. Suku Hali has already been broadcast nationally repeated times in response to popular demand.