Arakan News Agency
A Japanese director called Aki Fujimoto produced the first Rohingya-language movie, movie called “Lost Land”, that tells the story of the persecuted minority of Rohingya.
The Japan-France-Malaysia-Germany collaboration is the first-ever Rohingya-language film, acted entirely by Rohingya.
Screen Daily, on Tuesday, reported that the movie sets world sales with China-based sales agent Rediance ahead of its premiere in Venice premiere at Venice’s Horizons competition section.
The story follows a four-year-old boy and his nine-year-old sister who leave a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on a perilous journey to reach Malaysia, in the hope of reuniting with their scattered family. They spend endless days on an overcrowded smugglers’ boat until an incident leaves them lost in Thailand.
More than 200 Rohingya people took part in the film, including the young siblings who play the main roles. None were trained actors.
“I often heard about the repeated persecution endured by the Rohingya people. It was hard to believe that such cruelty exists in today’s world,” the movie director stated
“In Myanmar, speaking openly about the Rohingya was considered taboo so I remained silent, as I feared my professional consequences. That silence became a burden and led me to this film, Lost Land” he added.
“What makes this film extraordinary is that the Rohingya cast are telling their own stories, stories most of them have personally lived, which remain an ongoing reality for our people,” said co-producer Sujauddin Karimuddin.
Osaka-born director Fujimoto is known for his socially engaged cinema and has been working on films in Southeast Asia, particularly in Myanmar, for 12 years.
More than a million Rohingya fled Rakhine State in western Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh after being subjected to genocide by the Myanmar military in 2017 and to violence by the Arakan Buddhist militia (the Arakan Army) in 2023, which aimed to control the state. The Rohingya live in camps in the Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh, which the United Nations classifies as the largest refugee camp in the world, amid difficult conditions that force many of them to undertake dangerous sea journeys in search of a better life in other countries.
