Country: Canada
Year: 2024
Duration: 17'
A first-generation Afghan Canadian man takes steps toward establishing an identity of his own while always conscious of his father's shadow. In a world that’s never made room, Hamed contends with desire, shame, and the quiet weight of his father’s expectations – seeking a self he’s never been shown how to become. Under the weight of his father's expectations, Hamed confronts fear, desire and shame, in search of a self unknown. One day this kid will feel something stir in his heart and throat and mouth. One day this kid will reach a point where he senses a division that isn’t mathematical. One day this kid will talk.
Biography
film director
Alexander Farah
(Canada) is an Afghan-Canadian filmmaker whose work has screened globally at Berlinale, Telluride, and Clermont-Ferrand. He directed the narrative music video for Meet You at the Light, which won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Choice Awards at SXSW in 2022. His recent project One Day This Kid premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024 and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short Film at SXSW in 2025.
FILMOGRAFIA
Sahar (cm, 2014), Meet You at the Light (cm, 2021), One Day This Kid (cm, 2024).
Declaration
film director
“The only times I ever saw the words ‘gay’ and ‘afghan’ together were in the context of the Pulse, Orlando massacre, where the shooter was thought to be a closeted Afghan man. My primary exposure to Afghans in storytelling has always been in the context or proximity to violence, either as the oppressor or the oppressed. I sought to create a narrative that, not only felt reflective of my own experiences growing up gay, Afghan, (feminine, reserved, docile, etc.) but painted the communities I come from (the middle eastern community, as well as the queer community) with more colors. More nuance. More life. There is a definitive shift towards "unapologetically queer" work, when it comes to LGBTQ cinema; one that side-step coming out, and the heaviness that comes with that grief. I respect and appreciate it, but this sort of shift in storytelling has left out many people of colour – specifically, men of Middle Eastern/South Asian upbringings. I felt a compulsion to create this film to honor the years of despair, hopelessness and suicidal ideation that posed, at the time, a huge threat to my well-being and chances of survival.”
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER, EDITOR: Alexander Farah. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Farhad Ghaderi. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Adriana Marchand. COSTUME DESIGN: Matea Pasaric. MUSIC: Cyrus Reynolds. SOUND: Mark Dolmont. SOUND: Mark Dolmont. CAST: Massey Ahmar, Mahan Mohammadinasab, Elyas Rahimi, Mostafa Shaker, Aydin Malakooti, Roohafza Hazarat, Tahera Rahimi, Panthea Vatandoost, Ashaan Singh Dhilon, Massoud Hashmi, Shadi Janho, Yuvraj Kalsi, Ben Drysdale, Justin Cardas. PRODUCTION: Joaquin Cardoner for Wallop Film, Boldly, Section80, Nimruz Foundation.
CONTACT: Alexander Farah alexfarah15@gmail.com
