Hazara Town is a neighborhood in the Pakistani city of Quetta which got its name because it’s home to so many members of the Hazara ethnic group. Many of them fled Afghanistan, where Hazara have been facing persecution for over a century. But they are not safe in Pakistan either, as becomes clear in filmmaker Khadim Dai’s portrait of his two nieces, their mother, and their grandparents.
In Hazara Town, Dai follows his family as intensifying persecution threatens the life they have built in this walled enclave. As their community continues to face targeted killings, they hold on to daily rituals—sharing meals, telling stories, helping the children with homework. But the film also bears witness to how those who were killed slowly disappear from memory: even their portraits vanish. All that remains is a number in a newspaper’s death toll.
As the need to find a way out becomes more and more urgent, the family’s hope of reuniting with loved ones who have already fled carries the risk of further separation. Do they go their separate ways, or stay together in Pakistan as a family?
Stills
