Synopsis
Located off the coast of Indonesia, Australia’s Christmas Island is populated by migratory crabs moving by the millions from the jungle to the ocean. Poh Lin is a “trauma therapist” who lives with her family in this wild and hostile landscape. Every day, she talks to asylum seekers held indefinitely in a high-security detention center, working tirelessly to support them in a situation that is as unbearable as it is uncertain.
A word from Tënk
On Christmas Island, there are ghosts, crabs, and refugees. The ghosts are hungry, the crabs migrate sideways, and the refugees are locked up. And they all seek the same thing: a place.
The film weaves these three threads, taking its time to perfect the craft. The island takes on the appearance of a fantasy or even a horror movie set, populated by spirits and gigantic crabs. But then there is Poh Lin, who, like a guide, brings us back to sensitivity, to simple listening. Her presence somehow saves the film from its perfection: Poh Lin allows us to access emotion—both her own and that of the refugees. Most importantly, she helps us access words. Words that speak directly, away from metaphors and parallels, about the horror unfolding in the camps that the world's Great Democracies have organized to rid themselves of their "undesirables."
Jérémie Jorrand
Head of Programming and Editorial Content
Tënk France
