For their feature debut, In the Land of Brothers, young Iranian directors Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi, turned their cameras on Iran‘s community of Afghan refugees, the millions of people who have fled decades of war in Kabul to find shelter across the border in the “land of their brothers.”
Amirfazli and Ghasemi’s drama follows a family of refugees over 20 years, telling three separate stories, each separated by a decade, beginning in 2001 following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan leading up to 2021 when the Taliban re-took control of the country.
In the first exclusive trailer for the film (see below), we are introduced to the film’s three protagonists. There is Mohamed, a sensitive teen with a crush on fellow Afghan refugee Leila, who gets picked up by the Iranian police and pressed into free labor because of his status as an immigrant. A decade on Leila, now a mother working for a rich Iranian family, is struck by tragedy and faces possible deportation back to Afghanistan. And in the final section, set in 2021, Leila’s older brother Qasem is confronted with a tragedy of a different sort, that could change the lives of him, his wife and his children.
In The Land of Brothers premiered in Sundance where it won the best director honor in the World Dramatic competition. Its global roll-out kicks off next week with a European premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it screens on Tuesday, July 2. Alpha Violet is handling world sales.
Check out the In The Land of Brothers trailer below.
