About

An immersive depiction of modern slavery, Rodd Rathjen’s Buoyancy follows Charkra, a 14-year-old Cambodian boy, who leaves his family’s rural farm to find work in a Thai factory. Deceived by human traffickers, he is sold the captain of a fishing vessel where he must plot an escape from the merciless conditions he endures. Both a gripping exercise in tension and a powerful coming-of-age story, Buoyancy is undergirded by an inventive score by musician Lawrence English. Financed with support from the MIFF Premiere Fund, Rathjen’s film was Australia’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2020 Academy Awards.

M | Mature themes, violence and coarse language