'Hazara City', on the Hazara Community in Pakistan, Acquired by Filmotor Ahead of IDFA World Premiere (Exclusive)

Filmotor, the international sales company, has acquired worldwide sales rights to 'Hazara City,' Khadem Dai's first feature-length documentary. The film will have its world premiere in the international competition at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). Shot over more than six years, 'Hazara City' is 'A Chronicle of Survival, Exile and […]'

Global sales company Filmotor has acquired the worldwide rights to "Millennium City", Khadem Dai's first feature-length documentary. This film will have its world premiere in international competition at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival, known as IDFA.

Shot over the course of six years, "Millennium City" is "survival capital, exile and family bonding," said Filmoter. Forced out of central Afghanistan by the Taliban in 1998, the Dai family took refuge in a besieged area in Pakistan's Quetta, where the Hazara community continues to face targeted violence. After a school bombing in 2013 that killed 126 people — including Dai's classmates — her family urged her to flee. RELATED STORIES 'I Play Rocky' star Anthony Ippolito on Sylvester Stallone's reaction, drinking raw eggs and why Hollywood needs 'more raw, human stories' Canada's Oscar nominee, Berlinale winner 'Nina Rosa' acquired in US by Dekanalog (EXCLUSIVE)

After four failed attempts to reach Australia by boat and years of wandering in Indonesia, Dai returned to Quetta in 2019 to film his community before their stories faded away. Popular in Variety

The documentary depicts the daily life of the family alongside their gradual and painful dispersion around the world: his parents move to Canada, Dai and his niece seek refuge in the United States, and the remaining relatives settle in Australia.

"The limitations of filming kept my camera largely at home, at school, and at the cemetery," said Dai, "I wanted to witness the slow disappearance of my community. Years later, someone might find the footage and get to know them. I can't bring back my classmates or the years of family separation, but I can convey something of their lives through cinema. This possibility made me film."

The production team announced in a statement: "This is Khadim's first feature film and also the first film of its kind to be made in Quetta, a city in Pakistan far from the eyes of the world. We believe this film is a rare opportunity to encounter the lives, experiences and perspectives of millennials, who are largely absent from cinema."

"Tracing 'Millennium City' since its run on Sunny Side of Doc in 2023, we immediately knew this was a story the world needed to see," said FilmMotor's Petr Mitrick. Khadim Dai's deeply personal lens captures raw, human emotion in a way that is both heartbreaking and necessary.

"Millennium City" was produced by Elias Yorush for Congo (Belgium), Khadem Dai, Graeme Isaacs for Mifan (Australia) and Anke Petersen and Liliane Tietjen for Jyoti (Germany).

The film will compete for IDFA Best Film and IDFA Best First Film.

This project has been developed with the support of Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program (with Open Society Foundations), IDFA's Bertha Classic Fund, Asian Cinema Fund, DMZ Industry (Special Jury Award), Docs Up Fund, Close Up Initiative, InMaat Foundation, Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg and Documentary Australia, etc.