JEDDAH: The first ever feature film to be shot entirely in the Rohingya language, Akio Fujimoto’s “Lost Land,” has won the top prize at the milestone fifth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival.
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Japanese filmmaker Fujimoto accepted the award from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Sean Baker, who headed of the Red Sea Competition jury. Baker was joined on the jury by Nadine Labaki, Olga Kurylenko, and Naomie Harris, who were all in attendance at the award ceremony, which took place in Jeddah’s historic Al-Balad district, the festival’s permanent home in the port town.
With “Lost Land,” Fujimoto offers a haunting, intimate portrait of two siblings fleeing persecution in Myanmar. With nothing but vague directions and each other, nine-year-old Somira and her younger brother Shafi begin a harrowing journey to join an uncle in Malaysia, crossing borders by sea and land and navigating a world shaped by smugglers, fear and exploitation. With a cast of non-professional actors, most of whom lived refugee experiences, the film blends realism with lyrical restraint.
Winning the Silver Yusr Feature Film was Palestinian American filmmaker Cherien Dabis’ “All That’s Left Of You.” The third film from the actor/director, and Jordan’s Oscar hopeful, is a sweeping family saga that covers three generations of history and struggle, from 1948 through to the present day, through the lens of a single Palestinian family.
