Dear Programmers:

The Film Collaborative is thrilled to announce the availability of the 2019 Sundance documentary MIDNIGHT TRAVELER to festivals and venues in North America. A hair-raising tale of desperate escape from the Taliban, MIDNIGHT TRAVELER distinguishes itself from all other refugee docs by its incredible subjects…a family of filmmakers who film the multi-year ordeal on their cell phones.

And speaking of Sundance, TFC is proud to announce a special re-release of the 2002 Sundance doc, THE COCKETTES, celebrating 50 years since the legendary alt-drag troupe first took the stage in San Francisco in 1969. Digitally remastered and featuring astonishing visuals and outrageous performances, THE COCKETTES is more relevant in today’s gender-fluid universe than ever before.

Please email us at festivals@thefilmcollaborative.org for screeners.

All best,

The Film Collaborative

2019 | USA / Qatar / Canada / UK | 87 min.

Director Hassan Fazili
Writer Emelie Mahdavian
Producers Emelie Mahdavian, Su Kim
Co-Producers Fatima Hussaini, Ahmad Imami
Editor Emelie Mahdavian
co-editor Kristina Motwani
consulting editor Nels Bangerter
Cinematographers Hassan Fazili, Fatima Hussaini, Nargis Fazili, Zahra Fazili
Music Grethen Jude
Cast Nargis Fazili, Zahra Fazili, Fatima Hussaini, Hassan Fazili

ABOUT THE FILM:
In 2015, after Hassan Fazili’s documentary Peace aired on Afghan national television, the Taliban assassinated the film’s main subject and put a price on Hassan’s head. Hassan looked at his wife and his daughters, and he knew they had to flee their home. Over the course of their multi-year saga in search of safety, the family grasped onto the only means they had to assert control over their situation: their camera-phones.

Hassan and his wife Fatima are both filmmakers, and they are educating their daughters and encouraging them to be artists. The whole family shot this autobiographical film, which follows them from when they sought and were rejected for refugee protection through their journey along the notorious Balkan smuggling route. As they experienced increasingly degrading circumstances, the family latched on to filmmaking as a way to not just survive, but retain their humanity.

MIDNIGHT TRAVELER is a gripping vérité story made by a family on the run. Their unique access and artistic vision provide an intimate portrait of a loving family and the myriad fellow travelers they meet on their odyssey.

FESTIVALS
2019: Sundance (World Premiere)

FESTIVAL TERRITORIES
North America

EXHIBITION FORMATS
DCP, Blu-Ray

MORE INFO:
Facebook Page

Email us for screeners or streaming links.

2002 | USA | 102 min.

Directors Bill Weber, David Weissman
Producer Producer
Co-Producer Roger Klorese
Associate Producer Robert Croonquist
Editor Bill Weber
Cinematographer Marsha Kahm
Sound James LeBrecht - Berkeley Sound Artists
Original Score Composed by Richard “Scrumbly” Koldewyn
Music Peter Dunne
Orchestral Arrangements by Nik Phelps
Special Piano Performances by Peter Mintun
Music Supervisor Gerry Gershman
Cast The Cockettes

ABOUT THE FILM:
Celebrating 50 years of the drag troupe The Cockettes. The 2002 Sundance film THE COCKETTES has been digitally re-mastered and its re-release on the film festival circuit couldn’t come at a more welcome time!

As the psychedelic San Francisco of the ’60’s began evolving into the gay San Francisco of the ’70’s, The Cockettes, a flamboyant ensemble of hippies (gay men, women, and babies) decked themselves out in gender-bending drag and tons of glitter for a series of legendary midnight musicals at the Palace Theater in North Beach. With titles like “Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma” and “Pearls over Shanghai,” these all-singing, all-dancing extravaganzas featured elaborate costumes, rebellious sexuality, and exuberant chaos. In their 2½ year existence, The Cockettes created 20 shows, and were featured in 4 films. They created a unique burst of cultural experimentation and artistic outrageousness that continues to influence the worlds of theater, music, fashion, gay politics and spirituality, and urban club life.

FESTIVALS
2002: Sundance

AWARDS
Best Documentary of 2002 (Los Angeles Film Critics Award)

FESTIVAL TERRITORIES
The World

EXHIBITION FORMATS
DCP, Blu-Ray

MORE INFO:
cockettes.com

Email us for screeners or streaming links.