Dawood Hilmandi’s debut feature doc Paikar has been selected as the Netherlands’ official entry to the 99th Academy Awards in the International Feature Film category.
Paikar is produced by Frank Hoeve and Katja Draaijer for BALDR Film (NL), in co-production with EOdocs (NL). Taskovski Films is handling international sales. The film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, The Netherlands Production Incentive and NPO-Fund.
In Paikar, Afghan-Dutch filmmaker Hilmandi revisits his authoritarian father, an imam with a violent past, to reconcile their troubled history. Through journeys across Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq, they explore family, spirituality, and the immigrant experience. Paikar is both a personal quest for liberation and a universal story of overcoming alienation, inspiring others to find freedom and creativity amidst adversity.
The committee selected Paikar “because Dawood Hilmandi’s enticing and personal attempt to understand his father tells a universal story about fathers and sons, familiar relations, and the way in which war and migration continue to form generations. Cinematically, Paikar also made a strong impression: the cinematography is mesmerizing and innovative, at times almost claustrophobic.”
“The fact that Hilmandi has received international acclaim for his debut film gives the committee confidence in the film’s international expressiveness,” committee members add. “The Netherlands has a long tradition of documentary filmmaking, and the committee is proud that with Paikar a documentary has been selected as the Dutch entry for the Best International Feature Oscar for the first time in over sixty years.”
“What started with my own family, became a film about loss and love, war and freedom,” says Hilmandi. “To have a story that is deeply rooted in Afghanistan and Iran, now presented globally by the Netherlands, is of enormous value to me. You can leave your country, but your past travels alongside you.”
BALDR Film productions include the Oscar-nominated documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, as well as the winner of the Cannes Grand Prix, All We Imagine as Light. Most recently, Al Baraneya was selected for Venice Giornata, and The Smell of Apples for the Platform section of the Toronto International Film Festival.
