The burning of ghost money perfumes the air on far-off Christmas Island where Poh Lin Lee, a trauma therapist, lives on the island with her husband and daughters. Island of the Hungry Ghosts is a global sensation that has picked up awards from festivals as different as Tribeca Film Festival and the more experimentally-minded Visions du Reel. While Lee helps detained immigrants work through their trauma, migrating crabs freely move from the jungle to the ocean, coddled by locals who gently rake them from the path of oncoming vehicles. Lee’s therapeutic work, which is filmed in a uniquely intimate way, and her mediation between the unhappy spirits and the detainees take a toll on her relationship with her family. Director Gabrielle Brady conjures a poetic darkness that evinces a confrontation of nature and human suffering. (AG)