Respected Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah (‘Monsoon Wedding’) has joined the Oscar-nominated documentary ‘Far From Home’ as an executive producer, marking his first foray into the documentary world in this capacity.
The short documentary, currently in contention for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short, chronicles the plight of Afghan refugees in India through the story of Samira Faizi, who fled to India in 2021 following the Taliban’s occupation of Afghanistan.
According to the film’s synopsis, “The film depicts her struggle to establish a base in India, where the political environment has changed and refugees are no longer welcome. The film highlights the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which excludes Muslim refugees from the path to citizenship, and its impact on Afghan refugees who have no country to return to.”
“I have always believed that the most important role of film is to serve as a record of its time,” Shah said. “I think documentaries are more valuable for posterity than feature films because they are the only medium that can do that.”
“Refugee rights are a sensitive subject in India and given the current political scenario, refugees are afraid to speak or come out in public,” said Kumar, a former journalist. “I am proud of Samira’s courage in telling her story and bringing awareness to the world about the situation of Afghan refugees in India.”
“When we think of refugees, we usually think of refugees on ships bound for Europe or on the U.S.-Mexico border. But we rarely talk about refugees in parts of the world where frameworks for integrating refugees do not exist,” she added.
Emmy Award-winning producer Brent E. Huffman produced the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting-funded project, which was a Japan Prize finalist and runner-up in the Best Short Documentary category at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival.
Far From Home was screened at several film festivals, including the Oscar-nominated American Documentary and Animation Film Festival and the Tasveer Film Festival. The Dr. Awards campaign has several upcoming screenings scheduled across the United States.
