I was so moved by this work. I was moved by how the simplicity in its format communicates in such powerful manner such human stories. Its genius in the end lies in how efficiently it achieves the purpose to tell a story that on its own, with no redundant additives, can completely captivate a viewer. This work tells stories that are worth all of our attention.
As an aspiring filmmaker I have been struggling to find how I can produce work that gives me the highest satisfaction. Looking at this group of videos has shown me that to make a successful piece of journalist work, or fiction work for that matter, a filmmaker must focus primarily on the content of the work. To see how much restrain Khalili had in allowing the stories to speak for themselves is truly inspiring. In restraining all trickery that’s bound in filmmaking, in focusing only in the importance of the single image of the map as sole object of visual representation juxtaposed with the sound of the story teller’s voice, Khalilli gave us the opportunity to empathize with the person we could have been, with the people we never met.