Lost and FoundLost and Found

This is a new film by Orlando von Einsiedel who had won the 89th Academy Award for Best Short Documentary for White Helmets in 2017. Kamal Hussein works at Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, about five kilometers away from Myanmar’s border, reuniting children with their parents. As Myanmar’s suppression of the Rohingya intensifies, over 700,000 refugees abandon their hometowns. There is nothing more brutal for those who are not welcome anywhere in the world than having to be separated from their loved ones. Despite the ongoing controversies over the Rohingya’s history and ongoing persecutions by Myanmar, nothing stops Kamal from plugging away at his work, microphone in hand in a small booth woven out of branches and patched with scraps of cloth. In doing so, he seems to demonstrate that there is no justification for tearing apart families. Though his personal childhood memories are marked by hatred and violence, as many as 784 children he reunites with their families will grow to learn the meaning of love and devotion, not discrimination or persecution. He says this work brings him peace, but it is Kamal himself who brings peace to those desperately seeking it. His eyes captured by the camera deliver a message that resonates louder and further than any other cry. (KI Hyungmin)