Lost Land

Winner of the Orizzonti Special Jury Prize at Venice, this groundbreaking Rohingya docu-fiction presents the perilous, disorienting experience of seeking asylum from a child’s-eye view.

When nine-year-old Somira and her four-year-old brother Shafi (played by real-life siblings Shomira Rias Uddin and Muhammad Shofik Rias Uddin) find themselves suddenly and inexplicably ripped from their lives in a Bangladeshi refugee camp, all they are told is that they going to find an uncle in Malaysia. Thus begins an uncertain, hazardous journey over days and then weeks – over land and by sea – that will take everything the siblings have to give and then some.

As the first ever film spoken entirely in Rohingya, Lost Land approaches Somira and Shafi’s story with an intimate realism that invites audiences to do more than merely bear witness: the film envelops us in the children’s confusion and determination, embodying the instability of their lives on the move. Japanese director Akio Fujimoto spent years working with Rohingya people to bring this story to life, and he does so with tender empathy, while Yoshio Kitagawa’s beautifully immersive cinematography aids the film’s authenticity and emotional weight. Lost Land is a profound and poignant document of the human lives at the heart of a too-often-overlooked humanitarian crisis.

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival