WATCHLIST: Cinema At Sea Film Festival 2023 (Okinawa, Japan)

Abang and Adik are undocumented orphans in Malaysia. While the older brother who is deaf has resigned himself to a life of poverty, his younger sibling burns with indignation. A brutal accident upsets their relationship's fragile balance.

Musician Alex sets off to an island to find his ancestral home with only childhood memories as his navigational system. As he fails to find his home, he reaches a retreat run by a Buddhist woman, Akiko, where he decides to stay for a while. Over a course of few weeks, they share a special spiritual bond out of music and therapeutic techniques.

Filipinos are frequent winners of global beauty pageants. They craze over pageantry not only in the Philippines, but everywhere the two million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) work. Factory OFWs Robin, John Louie and Raymond are candidates of the Ginoong Taiwan pageant held in Hsinchu. Can they grasp their dreams as they embark on the journey of companion and competition for the crown?

The Kuna indigenous people of the Guna Yala islands of Panama intend to claim a 1975 documentary that portrayed their community, but was not ever shown to them.

A family in Hawai'i faces the imminent death of their eldest as the ghosts of the past haunt the countryside.

Makoto translates to 'honesty' or 'sincerity'. In this short documentary, filmmaker Christopher Makoto Yogi travels home to Hawaii to confront the death of his father, and finds peace through the simple act of talking.

This road film revolves around an Okinawan folk song singer Tsuru and her son Henry's filmmaking journey. Taiwanese singers CHIN Man-wang, LEE Ping-huei, and acclaimed actress CHEN Shiang-chyi all make cameo appearances. After decoupling Okinawa from Japan in Okinawan Dream Show, Paradise View, and Untamagiru, TAKAMINE Go further unpacks the geopolitical complexities of Okinawa in Tsuru-Henry.

An exhausted man.

Living out his last days on the north shore of Hawaii, an elderly Japanese man is visited by the ghosts of his past.

Hajime, a postman, wakes up with amnesia after Valentine's Day. Reika has clues about his lost memories from that day. He tries to solve the mystery of his forgotten Valentine's Day events while their paths cross.

Hunting whales is a matter of life or death for the residents of St. Lawrence, a tiny island in the Bering Sea. So, when Chris Apassingok becomes the youngest person to ever harpoon a whale for his Alaskan village, his mother proudly shares the news on Facebook. To her surprise, Paul Watson and thousands of his international followers brutally attack Chris online without fully understanding the scope of his accomplishment. ONE WITH THE WHALE is a heartwarming yet thrilling story of one family's struggle to fight against cultural genocide and environmental racism, while regaining a foothold in both the ancient and modern world.

Escaping from the midlands of southern Taiwan, a pregnant Thai migrant enlists the help of a fellow Indonesian runaway to locate the father of her child - who has disappeared in the mountains.

A teenage girl with a tragic life is desperate to run away from her village to continue her education even though she has to go through the ferocity of the Papuan Jungle

Osa: the Jewel of Costa Rica is a documentary on eco-sustainability and best practices used in Costa Rica. This film tells the story of the preservation of the rain forest in conjunction with the development of a healthy local economy.

Set in Okinawa on the eve of reversion and filmed almost entirely in the endangered Okinawan language, the story revolves around a man who has quit his job at a U.S. military base and an ethnographer (acted by renowned Japanese musician HOSONO Haruomi) who attempts to marry a village woman in the traditional Ryukyu customs. Blurring the line between reality and fantasy, Takamine's signature style of storytelling has already taken shape in this feature film debut.

Filmed over three years on 16 Island nations across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, this grassroots musical follows the ocean highways uniting ancient musical lineages. From Madagascar to Rapa Nui/Easter Island, Taiwan to Zenadth Kes/The Torres Strait. A heartfelt plea for environmental awareness and cultural preservation from those on the frontline of the climate crisis.

A 'film within a film' meta cinema approach to portray the onsite filming and things that happen behind the scenes.

After enrolling in a school, an impoverished boy finds conflict with his classmates and decides to compete to earn their respect.

A sick little girl's fantastic journey during the pandemic.

Followed by BlackWoman, who is abandoned in a cage in the middle of the desert. Once she escapes the cage, she walks from desert to mountain to city, to find - more captivity.