Issue:
April 2026 | Film Committee
A Fraught Journey to “Freedom”
Join the Film Committee at 6 pm on Thursday, April 2 for this sneak preview of the world’s first Rohingya-language fiction feature, Lost Land. While it is docudrama and not documentary, the film organically merges performance and reality, drawing its story from the experiences of more than 200 Rohingya who participated in the production, lending it a groundbreaking level of authenticity and urgency. Lost Land is told through the eyes of two young children, Somira and her brother Shafi, who leave their refugee camp in Bangladesh with others and soon find themselves on a long and perilous journey to some semblance of freedom. As they attempt to reach relatives who are waiting in Malaysia, the siblings must endure the harshest of conditions and constant danger, although they also benefit from the kindness of strangers. Acclaimed director Akio Fujimoto and producer Kazutaka Watanabe, the award-winning team behind Passage of Life (FCCJ 2017), which focused on Burmese refugees in Japan, and Along the Sea (FCCJ 2020), about illegal Vietnamese workers in Japan, have now created their most powerful work yet, echoing the ongoing reality of life for the Rohingya, who are often considered the world’s most persecuted ethnic group. Blending stark realism with touches of fable-like lyricism, the film confronts the brutal realities of statelessness - human trafficking, forced migration, and the precarious existence of a people denied citizenship - while preserving the fragile wonder of its childhood perspective. Lost Land transforms a global humanitarian crisis into something profoundly personal. The director and producer will be on hand for the Q&A session. (Lost Land, Japan/France/Malaysia/Germany, 2025, 99 minutes, Rohingya with Japanese and English subtitles).
Karen Severns is chair of the FCCJ Film Committee
