Presented in partnership with ANU Learning Communities – Global Challenges

A combination of arthouse film and political documentary, Human Flow provides a visual representation of the global refugee crisis, as vast numbers of people try to relocate from their oppressive surroundings – from famine, climate change and war – to lead a better life.

Artist/activist Ai Weiwei filmed in 23 countries, from the Middle East and Africa, to Europe and Mexico, using drones and iPhones, as well as regular cameras, in an attempt to capture the scale of the crisis. Finding personal stories against a massive background, he gives us a simultaneously singular and general narrative of a humanitarian disaster that seems unstoppable.

Visually spectacular and emotionally complex, this is an examination of how a human tide is treated worldwide. There is an ongoing and escalating sense of failure as the desperate and stateless increasingly lose hope. Creating individual empathy in a situation so huge, and seemingly hopeless, is a challenging task – but Ai Weiwei manages it. Both a glimpse at some of the 65 million people displaced around the world and a plea for something better, Human Flow is powerful, moving cinema.