Midnight Traveler: London Benefit Gala

Synopsis

In 2015, after Hassan Fazili’s documentary Peace aired on Afghan national television, the Taliban assassinated the film’s main subject and put a price on Hassan’s head. Hassan looked at his wife and his daughters, and he knew they had to flee their home. Over the course of their multi-year saga in search of safety, the family grasped onto the only means they had to assert control over their situation: their camera-phones.
Hassan and his wife Fatima are both filmmakers, and they are educating their daughters and encouraging them to be artists. The whole family shot this autobiographical film, which began when they sought and were rejected for refugee protection and follows them along the notorious Balkan smuggling route. As they experienced increasingly degrading circumstances, the family latched on to filmmaking as a way to not just survive, but retain their humanity.
Midnight Traveller is a gripping vérité story made by a family on the run. Their unique access and artistic vision provide an intimate portrait of a loving family and the myriad fellow travellers they meet on their odyssey.

Credits

Hassan Fazili

Director

Hassan Fazili developed plays and television shows in his native Afghanistan, in addition to documentaries and short films. His short films include Life Again! (2009) and Mr. Fazili’s Wife (2011). Of his decision to document his family’s flight from Afghanistan in Midnight Traveler, he says, “I feel that our family’s experience is not unique to us and is an important part of human history and must be preserved and seen by all.”