Planet in Focus: In the Path of Giants
- Sat, Oct 24
Midnite weekend screenings happen on Friday & Saturday nights,. so please be sure to arrive on Friday and/or Saturday night by 11:45pm for seating and the screening will start after midnight.
Director: Fayed Khan, Kirsty Wells Run Time: 89 min. Format: DCP Release Year: 2026
In Southern Bangladesh, hungry wild elephants trapped by the world’s largest refugee camp are rampaging over the land of local farmers. The result is a tense three-way stand-off between the refugees, local Bengalis and indigenous farmers, worsening already strained ethnic tensions. In 2017 Bangladesh opened its arms to nearly a million Rohingya who fled a violent regime of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. But the camp built to house them unknowingly blocked the last migratory corridor for the local elephant population. With no easy escape, a Rohingya refugee, an indigenous farmer, a Bengali forest ranger and the shrinking population of wild elephants find themselves trapped in an impossible fight for land, freedom and a place to call home.
Set in Bangladesh, where the sprawling Rohingya refugee camp meets the edge of the forest, the last migratory corridor for endangered Asian elephants in the region has been cut off, leaving the elephants no alternative but to forage through farm fields. In the Path of Giants examines the complex, often dangerous, and heartbreaking conflict between elephants, refugees, Bengali villagers, and Indigenous farmers. Elephants sit at the center of a layered story shaped by displacement, political violence, and the unintended fallout of vanishing land.
Beginning in 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled persecution in Myanmar and settled in neighboring Bangladesh, setting off a chain of events that disrupted migration routes elephants had followed between the two countries for generations. Elephants are often cast as majestic, gentle giants, but they’re equally capable of destruction and pose real danger to human life. Directors Kirsty Anna Wells and Fayed Khan show how closely the fate of elephants is bound with the people around them, as everyone involved competes for a piece of rapidly shrinking land. The film makes the case that protecting wildlife can’t be separated from supporting the human communities living alongside them – each side depends on the other for safety and survival, and for any chance of saving the Asian elephants they revere.
Planet in Focus is proud to present the Canadian premiere of In the Path of Giants, which premiered at the Raindance Film Festival in London and won the Living with Wildlife Award at the International Wildlife Film Festival. -PLANET IN FOCUS
Preceded by REPLANTING A GARDEN (dir. Anthony W Wallace, Canada, 4 min): In the wake of a devastating coral bleaching event, a group of Jamaican fishers, scientists, and marine wardens come together to restore their reef and the community that depends on it. Replanting a Garden follows the grassroots work of the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary as its members search for resilient coral, fragment and replant damaged reefs, and protect one of the Caribbean’s most threatened marine ecosystems. Told through the voices of those who live and work on the water, the film draws a clear parallel between coral restoration and community gardening. Like a garden, the reef requires constant care, patience, and collective responsibility. The work is physical and ongoing, and its benefits extend beyond the environment itself. As coral returns, fish populations recover, livelihoods stabilize, and a shared sense of purpose grows within the community. Rather than framing conservation as a distant or abstract solution, Replanting a Garden shows how environmental stewardship can strengthen social bonds and support local survival. The film highlights how science, traditional knowledge, and cooperation come together through hands-on labor, demonstrating that caring for the ocean is also a way of caring for one another.
Doors Open 30 Minutes Before Showtime.