‘The Boat People’ is a feature length film that was shot in South Devon, but has since travelled the world, earning selections at films festivals from Hollywood to Salento, from Filmstock to Fargo.

It’s a psychological thriller –  Jared is taken to the coast by his new girlfriend, Alice. They stay in the seaside cottage she’s owned all her life with her sister, Cleo. As soon as he gets there, Jared begins to have haunting dreams of a distant exotic land. The dreams excite Alice.

Even more weird is that when Cleo unexpectedly turns up, she somehow seems to know what happens in the dreams without him telling her. Gradually Jared realises that the sisters are using his dreams to uncover a long-buried secret from their childhood, when they lived in Vietnam and their parents were brutally murdered.

But who was the murderer? And why does Jared begin to feel that his life is now threatened? As the landscape and the house reveal their secrets, Jared becomes more and more drawn into the twisted world of The Boat People. First they take over his dreams, then they take over his mind.

‘The Boat People’ keeps the audience on edge, teasing them with flashes from some other place and time. The film is well paced and the cinematography excellent, and we think that this film has certainly earned its place at the international table of film festivals. We look forward to screening it again sometime soon.

See the Boat People website to watch a trailer, get info on where you can see it next and buy the DVD.

SCREENED AT: The Aeon Festival, August 2010