Filmotor is pitching 'Hazara Town' as an essential, heartbreaking chronicle of survival that offers a rare glimpse into a community absent from cinema.
Insiders are buzzing about Dai's persistence. After four failed boat trips to Australia and years stranded in Indonesia, he returned to Quetta in 2019 to film before his community vanished.
The film premiered at IDFA's International Competition. It was developed with support from Sundance Institute and IDFA Bertha Fund. Produced by Ilyas Yourish for Congoo (Belgium).
This isn't just a documentary; it's a receipt for six years of trauma, exile, and the relentless drive to bear witness.
Listen up, because this is the kind of raw, unfiltered drama that usually gets buried under celebrity fluff but deserves the front page. Filmotor, the world sales outfit known for sniffing out serious contenders, has officially acquired the global rights to "Hazara Town," the debut feature documentary by Khadim Dai. The film is set to have its world premiere in the prestigious International Competition at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).
We’re talking about a project that tracked a family’s survival, exile, and the painful bond of family, filmed over a grueling six-year period. This isn't some polished Hollywood production; it’s a visceral chronicle of a community forced to the margins. The backstory here is heavier than a blockbuster budget.
Dai’s family was forced out of Central Afghanistan by the Taliban in 1998, seeking refuge in a walled enclave in Quetta, Pakistan. But even there, the Hazara community faced targeted violence. The turning point?
A 2013 school bombing that killed 126 people, including some of Dai’s own classmates. That tragedy prompted his family to urge him to flee. Imagine the pressure: you’re told to leave because staying means death, but leaving means leaving your history behind.
Dai tried to escape to Australia by boat, failed four times, and spent years stranded in Indonesia. Talk about a plot twist nobody sees coming in a red carpet interview. But here’s where the drama peaks.
In 2019, Dai didn't just settle in his new life; he returned to Quetta. Why? To film his community before their stories faded into the ether.
His camera was restricted to the home, school, and cemetery—spaces that now hold ghosts rather than just memories. Dai himself stated, "I wanted to bear witness to the slow disappearance of my community." He acknowledged he couldn't bring his classmates back or undo the family separation, but he could pass on their lives through cinema. That’s a level of dedication that makes most influencer content look like a casual selfie session.
The film captures the family’s gradual dispersal: parents to Canada, Dai and his niece to the US, and relatives to Australia. It’s a global diaspora captured in real-time pain. The industry is taking notice, and for good reason.
Petar Mitric from Filmotor said they’ve been tracking "Hazara Town" since its pitch at Sunny Side of the Doc in 2023. "We knew immediately that this was a story the world needed to see," Mitric noted, praising Dai’s "deeply personal lens" and "raw, human emotion." The producing team highlighted that this is the first film of its kind made in Quetta, a city often ignored by the global gaze. With support from heavy hitters like the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and the IDFA Bertha Fund, "Hazara Town" is competing for both the IDFA Best Film and Best First Film Awards. This is a major statement: the world is finally tuning in to the Hazara experience, and it’s coming through the lens of someone who lived every second of it.
