Reviews & Awards

REVIEWS

“The best documentary award goes to a film that demonstrates extraordinary mastery of the full symphonic range of cinematic tools: cinematography, editing, score, sound design and, perhaps greatest of all, an exquisite use of metaphor. To a film that moved us deeply, impressed us immensely and made us feel we were witnessing nothing less than the emergence, fully formed, of a major new cinematic talent”

– Tribeca Jury

“[A] poetic profile of the forgotten asylum seekers detained on Christmas Island… Lush cinematography… Timely subject matter.” 

– Laurence Boyce, Screen International

“Gorgeous… [A] beautifully rendered portrait of an alien landscape… Reality is suspended and in its place Brady’s surrealist dreamscape, shot breathtakingly by Michael Latham, becomes an all-encompassing tribunal on man’s inhumanity to man in a clandestine landscape filled with lost spirits.” 

– Pamela Cohn, Filmmaker Magazine.com

“A fascinating metaphoric collision.” 

– Scott Macaulay, Filmmaker Magazine.com

“[A] standout… This is a film that lingers with you long after it’s gone.” 

– Patricia Aufderheide, Documentary.org

“ Island of the Hungry Ghosts is one of the year’s most impressively made documentaries, a film that’s as occasionally surreal as it is persistently moving. Island of the Hungry Ghosts is a true discovery.”

– Joshua Brunsting, Criterion Cast.

( ★★★★ out of 5) – Amber Wilkinson, Eye For Film

“There is a true ruminative beauty here in Brady’s impressionistic portrait of this haunted island out of time.”  

– Chris Barsanti, The Playlist

“A documentary overflowing with empathy, poetry, and elemental power.”  

– Hubert Vigilla, Flixist

“The magic of documentary filmmaking comes alive in this film… A thunderstorm of sensation… A powerful statement.” 

– Briana Atkins, The Knockturnal

“Hauntingly beautiful.”  

– Helen Kaplow, Indie NYC

“Hauntingly beautiful Island of the Hungry Ghosts combines multiple narratives…into one glorious whole… Powerful cinema… A mesmerizing work of visual wonder, the breathtaking images forming an evocative setting for a vital discussion of human rights… A rapturous viewing experience… A stunning, visceral first feature, announcing the director as a major talent to watch”  

– Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Film Festival Today