Arakan Journal

_{Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker James Longley has announced plans to make a documentary about the 2017 Rohingya genocide.}

By Arakan Journal Staff – November 1, 2026

An Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker has announced plans to produce a feature-length film on the Rohingya genocide, aiming to bring renewed international attention to the atrocities committed against the community in Myanmar in 2017.

James Longley, a two-time Academy Award nominee, revealed the project in an interview with Variety at the Ji. hlava International Documentary Film Festival in the Czech Republic. His latest film, Mohabat, received the festival’s top prize on Saturday.

Longley says he has already shot the first part of the Rohingya project, which he first developed with Diane Weyermann of Participant Media. Weyermann passed away in 2021. Participant Media shuttered in 2024.

He noted that 2027 will mark the 10th anniversary of the 2017 violence, which he described as a genocide recognized by the United States, the European Union, and the British government. He said he was surprised that no feature-length documentary had yet been made specifically on the subject and that he believed his experience had uniquely prepared him to take it on.

Longley is known for documentaries examining conflict, displacement, and the human cost of war. His earlier films include Iraq in Fragments, which earned him an Academy Award nomination, and Angels Are Made of Light.

Mohabat focuses on the lives of civilians in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. It follows a 12-year-old boy whose father was killed in a US drone strike while hunting, leaving the child struggling to support his family. Longley said he spent two years filming in Afghanistan, seeking to document the experiences of ordinary people shaped by decades of conflict.

He described his approach to filmmaking as “pro-human and anti-war” and stressed the importance of telling stories often overlooked by international media. He also pointed out the value of involving children as major players in conflict documentaries, saying their experiences can help international audiences understand unfamiliar realities.

The planned Rohingya film comes as the world approaches the 10th anniversary of the mass violence that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee Myanmar’s Rakhine State in August 2017. The military crackdown, marked by widespread killings, sexual violence, village destruction, and mass displacement, drove more than 700,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh. Many remain in refugee camps, while others are scattered across different countries.

The documentary could bring survivors’ experiences and the continuing consequences of the atrocities to a far wider international audience. Longley’s announcement comes as questions of justice, accountability, safe repatriation, and the future of the Rohingya community remain unresolved.