FOR a year, Chinese film maker Ai Weiwei followed the tortuous journeys of refugees forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and wars.

And through the unflinching humanity of this poignant documentary, Human Flow, to be shown at Clitheroe Grand on Tuesday, he captures the unimaginable scope of the global refugee crisis that has enveloped entire continents.

Visiting refugee camps in Afghanistan, Greece, Iraq, Kenya, Mexico and Turkey, Ai tells the stories of men, women and children of all ages and nationalities who have no place to call home.

The numbers are so big they are hard to comprehend.

Thousands have landed on the Greek island of Lesbos, three million are encamped in Turkey, refugees from the brutal war in Syria, and 65 million people exiled from their homelands worldwide.

The patchwork construction of the film can make it hard to determine exactly which particular crisis you’re in at any given moment, but Ai finds a tragic story of desolation and desperation.

Sometimes we see him filming on a smartphone while several shots leave you overawed by the raw sights and sounds.

A Syrian camp so big it has its own economy, border fences that stretch off endlessly and power cables snaking over the makeshift shacks and sprawling tents.

The odd clip of spoken testimony provides indelible images of their own.

An Iraqi woman from Mosul talks about missiles ‘falling like rain,’ while a man standing beside rows of freshly dug graves tearfully reveals the identities of seventeen family members who perished in an attack.

A compassionate film, Human Flow also acknowledges that there are no easy solutions to this human catastrophe, and the greatest displacement of refugees since World War 2.

Meanwhile, The Grand will be screening The Albatross by award winning film maker Chris Jordan on Tuesday,March 10.

Jordan charts his expedition to the Pacific Island of Midway, where he finds thousands of dead albatrosses’, their stomachs filled with plastic.

Jordan said: “The experience was devastating, not only for what it meant for the suffering of the birds, but also showing the destructive power of our culture of mass consumption, and humanity’s damaged relationship with the living world.”

Following Human Flow, Clitheroe Grand, Tuesday, February 25 and Albatross, Tuesday, March 10 at 7.30pm. Details from www.thegrandvenue.co.uk or 01200 421599