Bajau Laut - The Sea is Our Home

Description

Local authorities and private interests press to clear coastal settlements while the Bajau Laut insist on remaining in their stilt-house villages; what stands in the way are arson attacks on homes, systematic destruction of boats and a lack of citizenship that leaves these sea nomads vulnerable to immediate displacement. The film documents the Bajau Laut as inhabitants who maintain long-standing maritime traditions and spiritual practices, and it contrasts those continuities with the eviction campaigns aimed at their oldest, most traditional villages. Three chapters map how communities respond and adapt, and show local grassroots movements organising legal claims and political advocacy. Bajau Laut - The Sea is Our Home is a documentary released in 2026 that records these contested processes without inventing outcomes. It follows community meetings, ritual life, and campaigns for recognition while registering material losses and strategies of survival. The story takes place in the Semporna region of Borneo.