For the first time in history, the persecuted Rohingya people are seeing their language, their stories, and their struggles brought to the global screen. Lost Land, directed by Japanese filmmaker Aki Fujimoto, is the first-ever feature film in the Rohingya language, acted entirely by Rohingya refugees themselves. The film will premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in the Horizons competition section this week.

Produced through a rare collaboration spanning Japan, France, Malaysia, and Germany, Lost Land tells the heartbreaking journey of a four-year-old boy and his nine-year-old sister who flee a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Desperate to reunite with their family, they embark on a perilous voyage to Malaysia, only to find themselves lost in Thailand after tragedy strikes their overcrowded smugglers’ boat.

More than 200 Rohingya, none of them trained actors, took part in the production including the children who play the lead roles. For them, the story is not fiction, but a reflection of lived reality.

“I often heard about the repeated persecution endured by the Rohingya people. It was hard to believe such cruelty exists in today’s world,” said director Fujimoto, who has spent over a decade working in Southeast Asia. “In Myanmar, speaking openly about the Rohingya was considered taboo. I remained silent out of fear for my career but that silence became unbearable. This film is my response.”

For the Rohingya community, the project is more than cinema. “What makes this film extraordinary is that the Rohingya cast are telling their own stories, they have lived and continue to live,” said co-producer Sujauddin Karimuddin.

The timing of the film is significant. More than one million Rohingya were forced to flee Myanmar in 2017 during what the United Nations calls a genocide carried out by the country’s military. In 2023, further violence from the Arakan Army drove even more families from their homes. Today, most remain confined to sprawling camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar known as the world’s largest refugee settlement where they endure poverty, statelessness, and an uncertain future.

Lost Land stands as a cinematic milestone: not only the first Rohingya-language film, but a powerful act of resistance, giving voice to a people long silenced by war, exile, and denial of identity.

BOB Post