Island of the Hungry Ghosts | |
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Directed by | Gabrielle Brady |
Written by | Gabrielle Brady |
Produced by | Alexander Wadouh Samm Haillay Alex Kelly Gizem Acarla Gabrielle Brady |
Starring | Poh Lin Lee |
Cinematography | Michael Latham |
Edited by | Katharina Fiedler |
Music by | Aaron Cupples |
Production company | Chromosom Film |
Distributed by | Autlook Filmsales |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
Countries | Germany Great Britain Australia |
Language | English |
Island of the Hungry Ghosts is a hybrid documentary film by director Gabrielle Brady that explores the conflict faced by trauma therapist Poh Lin Lee, who works in the Australian Detention Centre for Asylum Seekers on Christmas Island. [1] It premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2018 where it won the Award for Best International Documentary. [2] It was shown at festivals all over the world, winning several prizes. It was also released in cinemas in the United Kingdom, Australia, North America and Germany.
Located off the coast of Indonesia, the Australian territory of Christmas Island is inhabited by migratory crabs travelling in their millions from the jungle towards the ocean, in a movement that has been provoked by the full moon for hundreds of thousands of years.
Poh Lin Lee is a “trauma therapist” who lives with her family in this seemingly idyllic paradise. Every day, she talks with the asylum seekers held indefinitely in a high-security detention centre hidden in the island’s core, attempting to support them in a situation that is as unbearable as its outcome is uncertain. As Poh Lin and her family explore the island’s beautiful yet threatening landscape, the local islanders carry out their “hungry ghost” rituals for the spirits of those who died on the island without a burial. They make offerings to appease the lost souls who are said to be wandering the jungles at night looking for home.
In the intimacy of her therapy sessions, as Poh Lin listens to the growing sense of despair of the people she counsels, she begins to feel the creeping dystopia reverberate through her own life.
Island of the Hungry Ghosts is a hybrid documentary that moves between the natural migration and the chaotic and tragic migration of the humans, which is in constant metamorphoses by the unseen decision-making structures. [3] [4] [5] [6]
Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
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Tribeca Film Festival | Best Documentary Feature | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [7] |
Visions du Réel | Buyens-Chagoll Award | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [8] |
Independent Spirit Awards | Best Documentary Feature | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Nominated | [9] |
IDFA | Amsterdam Human Rights Award | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [10] |
German film prize | Best Documentary | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Pending | [11] |
Valletta Film Festival | Best Documentary film | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [12] |
Mumbai Film Festival | Grand Jury Prize for the International Competition | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [13] |
Edinburgh International Film Festival | Special Mention | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [14] |
Crested Butte Film Festival | Best Documentary | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [15] |
Adelaide Film Festival | Flinders University Feature Documentary Award | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [16] |
Darwin International Film Festival | Best Documentary | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | |
Human Rights Film Festival Zurich | Mercurius Prize | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [17] |
Festival des Libertés 2018 | Prix SMART | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [18] |
SAE ATOM Awards 2018 | Best Documentary | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [19] |
British Independent Film Awards | Best Music | Aaron Cupples | Nominated | [20] |
FIFO Tahiti 2019 | Prix spécial du Jury | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [21] |
Ozflix Independent Film Awards | Best Film | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [22] |
Best Director | Gabrielle Brady | Won | ||
Best Cinematography | Michael Latham | Won | ||
Best Editing | Katharina Fiedler | Won | ||
Best Sound Design | Leo Dolgan | Won | ||
Best Original Soundtrack | Aaron Cupples | Nominated | ||
ZagrebDox 2019 | Special Mention from the Movies That Matter Jury | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | |
Sole Luna Doc Film Festival 2019 | Best Documentary | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [23] |
Audience Prize | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | ||
Down Under Berlin FF | Best Film | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [24] |
Move it! Dresden 2019 | Human Rights Award | Island of the Hungry Ghosts | Won | [25] |
Aubagne International Film Festival | Best Original Soundtrack | Aaron Cupples | Nominated | [26] |
Australian immigration detention facilities comprise a number of different facilities throughout Australia, including the Australian territory of Christmas Island. Such facilities also exist in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, namely the Nauru Regional Processing Centre and the Manus Regional Processing Centre.
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in 2002 to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of Lower Manhattan following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Until 2020, the festival was known as the Tribeca Film Festival.
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema.
The Australian government has a policy and practice of detaining in immigration detention facilities non-citizens not holding a valid visa, suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorised arrival, and those subject to deportation and removal in immigration detention until a decision is made by the immigration authorities to grant a visa and release them into the community, or to repatriate them to their country of origin/passport. Persons in immigration detention may at any time opt to voluntarily leave Australia for their country of origin, or they may be deported or given a bridging or temporary visa. In 1992, Australia adopted a mandatory detention policy obliging the government to detain all persons entering or being in the country without a valid visa, while their claim to remain in Australia is processed and security and health checks undertaken. Also, at the same time, the law was changed to permit indefinite detention, from the previous limit of 273 days. The policy was instituted by the Keating government in 1992, and has been varied by the subsequent Howard, Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, Turnbull, Morrison and Albanese Governments. The policy is regarded as controversial and has been criticised by a number of organisations. The High Court of Australia has confirmed, by majority, the constitutionality of indefinite mandatory detention of non-citizens.
Andrew Richard Capper is a British US-based director, journalist and former editor and executive producer at Vice Media. In 2018, he founded Happy Now Film.
Ronit Avni is a Canadian entrepreneur, tech founder, human rights advocate, and Peabody Award-winning film director and producer.
Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre or commonly just Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre, is an Australian immigration detention facility located on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
Alex Kelly is an Australian freelance artist, filmmaker and producer based in regional Australia. Kelly was born in regional NSW and grew up in a farming community near Wodonga in regional Victoria,
Christopher Leggett is an American producer of films, television, documentaries, music videos, and commercials. In 2013, Leggett joined as a partner at Delirio Films, a boutique film and commercial production company with a focus on prestige documentary, both features and series. Leggett began his producing career at NBC / Universal Sports. Among his most recent documentaries is Ask Dr. Ruth, about sex therapist and Holocaust survivor Dr. Ruth Westheimer, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019.
Asylum in Australia has been granted to many refugees since 1945, when half a million Europeans displaced by World War II were given asylum. Since then, there have been periodic waves of asylum seekers from South East Asia and the Middle East, with government policy and public opinion changing over the years.
Candescent Films is an American film production company that produces and finances documentary and narrative films that explore social issues.
The Manus Regional Processing Centre, or Manus Island Regional Processing Centre (MIRCP), was one of a number of offshore Australian immigration detention facilities. The centre was located on the PNG Navy Base Lombrum on Los Negros Island in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea.
Lilly Hartley is an American documentary film producer and actress, and the founder of Candescent Films.
Aaron Nicholas Cupples is an Australian born, London (UK) based, film composer, record producer, and musician. He has produced, composed or mixed for artists such as Spiritualized, Blanck Mass, Civil Civic, The Vaccines, The Drones, Miles Kane, Broken Social Scene, Paul Kelly, Dominique Young Unique, Dan Kelly, Snowman, and Standish/Carlyon. He was described as "one of Australia’s most talented young producers” by Audio Technology magazine and produced and mixed two albums included in an industry-voted ’100 Greatest Australian Records Of All Time’ list.
Behrouz Boochani is a Kurdish-Iranian journalist, human rights defender, writer and film producer living in New Zealand. He was held in the Australian-run Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea from 2013 until its closure in 2017. He remained on the island before being moved to Port Moresby along with the other detainees around September 2019. On 14 November 2019 he arrived in Christchurch on a one-month visa, to speak at a special event organised by WORD Christchurch on 29 November, as well as other speaking events. In December 2019, his one month visa to New Zealand expired and he remained on an expired visa until being granted refugee status in July 2020, at which time he became a Senior Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Canterbury.
It Will Be Chaos is an HBO documentary on the European refugee crisis directed by US-based Italian filmmakers Lorena Luciano and Filippo Piscopo. In 2019 It Will Be Chaos won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Current Affairs documentary at the 40th News & Documentary Emmy Awards. It Will Be Chaos also won the Best Directing Award at the 2018 Taormina Film Festival. Translated into over 10 languages, the documentary has been distributed worldwide.
Smriti Mundhra is an Indian-American filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her production company, Meralta Films, specializes in documentary films and non-fiction content.
Toni Hassan is an Australian journalist, a writer with an interest in contemporary social issues, and emerging artist who works predominantly in painting.
Mental health consequences of immigration detention include higher rates of depression, anxiety, PTSD, conduct issues, hyperactivity, compared to the general population. These harmful impacts exist regardless of past traumatic experiences, age, or nationality, or even time elapsed. Immigration detention may take place at country or state borders, in certain international jurisdiction zones, on offshore islands, boats, camps, or could even be in the form of house arrest. The use of immigration detention around the world has increased recently, leading to greater concerns about the health and wellbeing of detained migrants. A 2018 scoping review from BMC Psychiatry gathered information showing that immigration detention consistently results in negative impacts on detainees.
Angus McDonald is an Australian contemporary visual artist, refugee advocate, columnist, and documentary filmmaker.