Island of the Hungry Ghosts
Gabrielle Brady
DE, GB, AU, USA • 2018 • 94’ • VO/OV st Fr/En
Off the coast of Indonesia, remote Christmas Island is home to land crabs that travel from the jungle to the seashore, pulled by the force of the full moon in a migration that is hundreds of thousands of years old. The Australian government has installed a detention camp for refugees on the island. Poh Lin is a trauma therapist who works there. Every day, she meets with asylum seekers being held indefinitely in a high-security detention centre, working tirelessly to support them in a situation as unbearable as it is uncertain. By juxtaposing the natural migration with the chaotic, tragic migration of those who are subject to the constantly shifting authorities, Island of the Hungry Ghosts is not just another film about refugees. It is a powerful hybrid of a film wherein the wild beauty of the landscapes counters the horror of daily life in the detention centre.
