Climate change disrupts lives and relationships – especially in the Persian Gulf, where temperatures can exceed 50°C and society is divided between the privileged few who can protect themselves, and migrants who have no choice but to endure the heat in order to make ends meet.

In the Persian Gulf, one of the hottest regions on Earth, temperatures can regularly climb past 50 degrees Celsius. In Heat, Swiss filmmaker Jacqueline Zünd delivers a stylish, sensory portrait of rising temperatures and the physical and psychological toll of extreme heat, tracing how it intersects with social inequality and vulnerable populations across the region. The film follows characters from sharply different social strata, showing how heat shapes their daily lives in entirely different ways: some retreat into a string of air-conditioned refuges, while others – largely migrant workers, have little choice but to labor outdoors in punishingly hot conditions.

Zünd is drawn to filmmaking that is tangible and experiential, describing her aim with Heat as an attempt to “translate heat without illustrating it, like a kind of cinematic mirage.” She realizes this aesthetically, with every frame charged with a feverish intensity. In the film, Kuwaiti meteorologist Essa Ramadan works to raise awareness of the climate crisis – one reshaping life across the Gulf and well beyond it. The film poses a pointed question: as temperatures keep rising, is this a preview of the future for all of us?

Planet in Focus is proud to present the Ontario premiere of Heat, which premiered at Visions du Réel, followed by a North American premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival. -PLANET IN FOCUS