The Mirror Never Lies

Pakis sits in the midst of a floating village, waiting for her father who simply doesn’t come back from fishing one day. The other children say he’s dead, but Pakis refuses to believe this. Instead she searches for the truth in a small mirror her father once gave her. Pakis is full of hope that one day he will return; she cannot forget his stories of the wind and the sea. Lying awake at night makes Pakis nod off at school. Her young mother has painted her face white and Pakis chides her for having given up on her father. But in reality she’s only trying to go on living in spite of her loss.
One day a young man arrives at their settlement – a dolphin researcher from Jakarta. He moves into Paki’s father’s hut.
The serene images of 25-year-old Kamila Andini’s film convey a simple lifestyle marked by privation that is often richly compensated by natural beauty. Filmed in Wakatobi in the Coral Triangle, this drama portrays the lives of the Bajo people today – sea nomads who have developed a unique way of life that is perfectly attuned to the sea.