IN THE LAND OF BROTHERS
Interview by Emmanuel Itier with directors: Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi
“In the land of Brothers” is a hidden jewel. Directed by maverick and inspired filmmakers Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi. The story is following three members of an extended Afghan family starting their lives over in Iran as refugees. This is a heartwarming study about the resilience of the human soul and how one has to keep fighting for their dream life. Considering the challenging times with a full blown out Middle East crisis, this film brings a fresh perspective at how we can achieve the peace within and with others. We wish the best to Raha and Ali in spreading their message of love, from Sundance to around the World. I was lucky to catch up with them during the film festival and through a very inspiring conversation on zoom between Sundance where Raha is, Paris where Al is and Santa Barbara where I reside.
Q: Tell me how this movie came together and what you were trying to achieve with it?
Ali: It’s really about our collaboration. We have been working together for seven years. We worked on a short previously that we jointly directed called ‘Solar Eclipse’. We have an amazing chemistry and we then decided to put together this film, long format: ‘In the land of brothers’. We started working on it after the covid pandemic. During the pandemic we had this home office, and we were not allowed out. So, we worked on the script with many drafts.
Raha: Growing up in Iran we both had some experience with the Afghan community. I lost a friend because she was deported back to Afghanistan. And Ali also lost some friends. We have seen so many horrible and sad stories about Afghan people. So, we knew we wanted to tell their stories and what they are going through to survive. There is no adequate representation of this community so it was important to do a film that could speak the truth about them. They always are depicted as sad characters in Iranian films. We were also planning to immigrate out of Iran ourselves. So, we put ourselves in the feet of an immigrant to understand what you are going through. This way we can recognize the hardship they are going through at a deeper level.
Q: What were the challenges making this film?
Ali: So many challenges. The biggest one was how to shoot this film. We had planned to shoot it in different seasons. It was an indie film, and it was very hard to get financing and to get the trust of people to be on board. They had to trust our vision. Casting was also difficult because we used non actors. But it was important for us to have the best actor who were so truthful. It ended up being wonderful.
Raha: Casting was very tough indeed. It was such a long casting process. We saw so many people. And we met so many great people. The authenticity was the biggest challenge and we needed to be as truthful as possible. Making an independent film is Iran due to the many restrictions imposed by the government. But we took the risk, and we made it work. It was very much worth it.
Q: What is the film truly about? The takeaway?
Ali: It’s truly about orderliness. It’s a human behavior to order each other, in any society. All the community have sometimes an underrepresented art. Everyone is a human being, and we need to protect them. Right now, in Iran they are trying to get rid of all the Afghan refugees claiming their culture and their lifestyle is too different to be able to integrate the Iranian society. And in Europe it’s also the same thing. This film is about fighting for the Afghan cause. They are humans, with feelings and families.
Raha: I agree with Ali. The immigration problem is worldwide, and we see it around the world in so many countries where so many refugees arrive and seek asylum. I hope that people, after seeing our movie, will be more mindful about immigration. I don’t expect everyone to feel empathy for our characters, but I hope our film will open the eyes and the heart of the audience. I hope people can feel for the immigrant community and understand what they are going through.
Q: What does Sundance mean to you? Is it the perfect place to bring a message of Peace?
Raha: This would be great. I hope our movie has an impact, indeed. Sundance is the best place to premiere an independent film like ours. At the same time, I’m sad that Ali cannot be with us in Sundance due to the French government not being able to get him in time a visa to come here. He is stuck in Paris. I guess he is even better understanding the immigrant crisis.
Ali: I’m so happy our film is in Sundance. This is great to deliver our message to a large audience like the Sundance audience. All together we need to join forces and make our world better with more justice and fairness for everyone. Especially for the next generation.
