North American Premiere
A meditative, hybrid documentary centered on the resilient Afrin, a nomadic orphan living on rapidly eroding mud islands in the Brahmaputra River, who decides to embark on a quest to find her father. Director Angelos Rallis spent five years living with Afrin, collaborating with her on the film, abandoning the assumptions of objectivity for an unscripted, semi-fictionalized story, as she makes the onerous journey to Bangladesh’s capital city of Dhaka. Its ingenious style and structure allows for an immersive, empowering epic one moment, and a sobering vision of the effects of climate change and poverty across the landscape of Bangladesh the next. From the floodplains of the Brahmaputra River to the harsh city streets of Dhaka, this stunning hybrid-documentary captures the catastrophic effects of climate change upon the country’s people and landscape. The tale of twelve-year-old orphan Afrin and her personal odyssey becomes an allegory for the plight of millions of climate refugees across Bangladesh. A profound blend between intimate, verité documentary and the power of epic mythmaking.
WFF Award for Best Environmental Film, Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival
September 29 & 30: Q&A with director Angelos Rallis & crew
Greece/France/Germany
2023
Spectrum
In Bengali with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
David Piperni, Daniel Cantagallos, Hafiz Uddin Munna, Giorgos Rallis
Producer
Maria del Mar Rodriguez, Angelos Rallis
Screenwriter
Angelos Rallis
Cinematography
Angelos Rallis
Editor
Nadia Ben Rachid, Angelos Rallis
Original Music
Alexis Rault
Director
Angelos Rallis
Angelos Rallis started his career in TV and theatre in Greece before moving to Sweden and the UK to complete his graduate and post-graduate studies in Film, Anthropology and Photography. In 2006 he became an elected member of the International Federation of Journalists (UK). His early work in video and photography has been published in international newspapers such as Ethnos and The Guardian and has been used by press agencies and NGOs around the world. Angelos has also worked as a director for the Greek National Television (ERT).
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Three Colours: Blue
The first of Kieslowski's acclaimed Three Colours Trilogy, inspired by the French Revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity and the French flag, the Tricolour. Blue stars Juliette Binoche as a young woman grieving her husband and child.
King Arthur's Night
John Bolton's film of Niall McNeil and Marcus Youssef's musical staging recreates Camelot at Harrison Hot Springs. It's a self-referential piece which joyfully reframes a classical narrative through the prisms of disability, inclusivity, and imagination.
Whispers in the Woods
A luxuriant, healing immersion in nature with ravishing wildlife photography, this is the cinematic equivalent of "forest bathing," a trip deep into the Vosges, France, with photographer Vincent Munier (The Velvet Queen), his father and his son.
Dazed and Confused
The last day of high school in May, 1976: seniors debate party politics while next term's freshmen run the gauntlet of brutal initiation rites, barely comforted by the knowledge that they'll wield the stick one day.
