Venice, MINA – Lost Land, a film depicting the plight of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority, won the Orizzonti Special Jury Prize at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on Saturday.
Directed by Japanese filmmaker Akio Fujimoto, the film is scheduled for release in Japanese theaters next spring. In his acceptance speech, Fujimoto called for greater international support for the Rohingya and expressed hope that the talents of Rohingya actors featured in the film would gain global recognition.
The festival’s top honor, the Golden Lion, went to Father, Mother, Sister, Brother by American director Jim Jarmusch, while the Silver Lion (Grand Jury Prize) was awarded to Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania for The Voice of Hind Rajab, based on the true story of a young Palestinian girl killed in Gaza.
Lost Land is the first Rohingya-language film showcased at Venice, featuring an all-Rohingya cast. The story follows two siblings—a four-year-old boy and his nine-year-old sister—who flee a refugee camp in Bangladesh in hopes of reuniting with their family in Malaysia. Their dangerous sea journey ends in tragedy when the overcrowded boat carrying them capsizes off the coast of Thailand.
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The Rohingya crisis has forced more than one million people to flee Myanmar’s Rakhine State since the military-led genocide in 2017. Violence escalated again in 2023, when Arakan Buddhist militias, known as the Arakan Army, carried out attacks to assert control over the region, triggering a new wave of displacement.
Most Rohingya now live in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, which the United Nations has classified as the world’s largest refugee settlement. Dire conditions there have driven many to risk perilous sea journeys in search of safety and better living conditions abroad.[]
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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