Reviews & Awards

"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