MIFF 2018 is almost here! The Melbourne International Film Festival is running on 2 to 19 August, featuring films like Rafiki and Dogman. Looking forward to it! One Aussie film that we’re probably going to catch is The Island of the Hungry Ghosts, the feature debut by Gabrielle Brady. Via Screen Daily:
The feature debut of Australian filmmaker Gabrielle Brady is the latest in a long line of documentaries – Human Flow and Fire At Sea among them – to tackle the refugee crisis. An extension of Brady’s 2017 short The Island, Island of the Hungry Ghosts eschews the more raw and urgent aesthetic favoured by many of its antecedents for an altogether more lyrical and poetic approach to the subject. And this approach highlights not only the terrible reality faced by many, but also gently reveals the absurd cruelty at the heart of much of human behaviour.
Receiving its World Premiere at Tribeca before heading to Visions Du Reel for the European unveiling, the BFI / WDR co-production will undoubtedly prove to be a draw at documentary festivals across the world. The 2015 winner of the UK and Italy-based artist filmmaker initiative Feature Expanded is also sure to cast its net much wider, with its hybrid approach to the material (which encompasses both fiction and documentary as non-actors are used in real and co-scripted scenes ) and timely subject matter giving scope for an arthouse theatrical run in various territories.
Located in the Indian Ocean, Christmas Island is one of the last discovered places on Earth and is home to less than 2000 inhabitants; a heady mix of people with Chinese, Malay, Indian and Australian ancestry with the attendant varying religious beliefs and customs. This slice of Australian territory is also home to the Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, a detention centre for more than 800 asylum seekers looking to enter Australia.