As conflicts spread and climate change worsens, the refugee crisis worldwide is breaking astounding records. There currently are 70.8 million forcibly displaced people around the globe, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Each of these individuals has a tale to tell about overcoming immense obstacles and dangers as he or she sought safety and stability away from homes they were forced to leave. One such story is told in the documentary “Midnight Traveler,” filmed by Afghan director Hassan Fazili and his family on three cellphones over the course of three years. The film documents their displacement from Afghanistan after receiving threats from the Taliban because of a film Fazili made about the terrorist organization, and their journey toward Europe in search of refuge.
Emelie Mahdavian and Su Kim, producers of “Midnight Traveler,” spoke with Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer about the award-winning film in the latest installment of “Scheer Intelligence.” Mahdavian, the film’s editor, writer and producer, was in touch with the Fazili family before they began filming “Midnight Traveler.” She says they all had hoped the family’s journey and story would be a much shorter, less difficult tale to tell. Mahdavian also recounts the worries she experienced about the Fazilis throughout the filming and production of this important work of art.
“I never knew what they were going to encounter,” Mahdavian says. “And I never knew what kind of needs they would have, and whether I would be able to help them or not. And I was very concerned to make sure that it was clear to them that I wanted them not to put themselves in risk for the sake of the film. Unfortunately, the migrant route is a risky thing to be on, and there was not a lot that they often could do to protect themselves or keep themselves out of risky situations. So the film ends up documenting those.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTT-duEo...e=youtu.be
To Kim, who dealt with the technical aspects of converting footage shot on cellphones into a film that could be screened in cinemas, the heart of the documentary is the unique perspective it lends to viewers about the crisis they’ve likely only read about in newspapers.
“The story of the refugee crisis, the migration crisis, is really a story that’s from the gaze of outsiders, and from the point of view of journalism, often,” Kim tells Scheer during his podcast. “And I think it’s really hard to relate as a sort of a person living in a very comfortable [life] to imagine what happens when you take this journey. What was special for me with this material in this film was that I could imagine myself in his and his family’s situation, and then the worst thing that could happen happens, and then how would I react? I think that that gaze on that story hasn’t been a part of the conversation.”
“This is the story of our time, because the refugees, wherever they’re coming from, there’s a tendency to try to sort of treat them as a problem for other people, intrusive to other societies,” Scheer notes. “And we forget all of these people have their own harrowing story, to one degree or another. They’ve been uprooted.”
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-re...it-before/
Emelie Mahdavian and Su Kim, producers of “Midnight Traveler,” spoke with Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer about the award-winning film in the latest installment of “Scheer Intelligence.” Mahdavian, the film’s editor, writer and producer, was in touch with the Fazili family before they began filming “Midnight Traveler.” She says they all had hoped the family’s journey and story would be a much shorter, less difficult tale to tell. Mahdavian also recounts the worries she experienced about the Fazilis throughout the filming and production of this important work of art.
“I never knew what they were going to encounter,” Mahdavian says. “And I never knew what kind of needs they would have, and whether I would be able to help them or not. And I was very concerned to make sure that it was clear to them that I wanted them not to put themselves in risk for the sake of the film. Unfortunately, the migrant route is a risky thing to be on, and there was not a lot that they often could do to protect themselves or keep themselves out of risky situations. So the film ends up documenting those.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTT-duEo...e=youtu.be
To Kim, who dealt with the technical aspects of converting footage shot on cellphones into a film that could be screened in cinemas, the heart of the documentary is the unique perspective it lends to viewers about the crisis they’ve likely only read about in newspapers.
“The story of the refugee crisis, the migration crisis, is really a story that’s from the gaze of outsiders, and from the point of view of journalism, often,” Kim tells Scheer during his podcast. “And I think it’s really hard to relate as a sort of a person living in a very comfortable [life] to imagine what happens when you take this journey. What was special for me with this material in this film was that I could imagine myself in his and his family’s situation, and then the worst thing that could happen happens, and then how would I react? I think that that gaze on that story hasn’t been a part of the conversation.”
“This is the story of our time, because the refugees, wherever they’re coming from, there’s a tendency to try to sort of treat them as a problem for other people, intrusive to other societies,” Scheer notes. “And we forget all of these people have their own harrowing story, to one degree or another. They’ve been uprooted.”
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-re...it-before/