Passabe is a subdistrict of the Oecusse District of East Timor, which is an enclave surrounded by Indonesian West Timor. In the 2004 census it had a population of 7,531 people in 1,153 households. Passabe is a small village (sulo) in the subdistrict, very near the Indonesian border. It was the site of a massacre of East Timorese by pro-Indonesia militias in the follow-up to the 1999 referendum for East Timor's independence.
Passabe is also the name of a documentary film, directed by James Leong and Lynn Lee, that takes place in the village. The film documents the lives of several Passabe residents five years after the violence, including the life of one admitted former militia member, and chronicles the ways in which the community has come to terms with what happened.
In January 2006, the film was banned at the Jakarta International Film Festival.[1]