“Midnight Traveler” is not your typical documentary about the refugee crisis. Afghan filmmaker Hassan Fazili got intimate access to the story of a family fleeing from the Taliban because, it turns out, he and his family were the ones fleeing.
Fazili’s “Midnight Traveler” is a personal film shot over three years solely on phones, documenting the journey Fazili took across countries with his wife and two young daughters after their life became in danger.
“Cut. I became a filmmaker. Cut. I made a film about a Taliban commander. After the film comes out, the Taliban puts a call out for my death. Cut. We flee to the mountains,” Fazili says in the film, narrating his own tensely cinematic story.
The film’s emotional trailer shows the danger he and his family face as refugees seeking asylum, while also revealing the touching, home movie moments of their love.
“Midnight Traveler” won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for No Borders at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and earned a special mention from the ecumenical jury at the Berlin Film Festival.
Emelie Mahdavian and Su Kim produced the film that Oscilloscope acquired and is releasing into theaters starting on Sept. 18 in New York, followed by Oct. 4 in Los Angeles.
Watch the first trailer for “Midnight Traveler” above.