The Immigrant Experience: Fremont Sheds Light on Afghan Refugees
The experience of being an immigrant provides a plentiful source of emotionally engaging narratives that are just waiting to be adapted into movies. The characters in these realistic stories are all trying to improve their lives and the lives of their families. Therefore, the stories center on enduring adversity and finding a new home after moving. The films Minari, Flee, and The Farewell, which are among the most unforgettable of the past few years, all feature universal and difficult experiences. One such narrative will be examined in the upcoming film Fremont, which focuses on Afghan refugees who settled in the Fremont area. Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), a young woman from Afghanistan who formerly worked as a translator for the United States and now resides in Fremont, California, is the subject of this film directed by Babak Jalali, who looks into her life.
When Jalali first started scripting the story, the film had already been developed for approximately five years. According to his original plans, the movie’s shooting had been scheduled to begin in the summer of 2020, but it had to be postponed because of the epidemic. In the end, filming did not begin until 2022, and the movie did not hit theaters until early 2023 after it had been shown at major film festivals such as Sundance and SXSW. Fremont is currently on the verge of being shown in theaters due to Music Box Films’ acquisition of the film’s distribution rights.
Fremont Cast
Anaita Wali Zada as Donya
Jeremy Allen White as Daniel
Gregg Turkington as Dr. Anthony
Hilda Schmelling as Joanna
Avis See-tho as Fan
Siddique Ahmed as Salim
Taban Ibraz as Mina
Timur Nusratty as Suleyman
Eddie Tang as Ricky
Jennifer McKay as Lin
Divya Jakatdar as Amaya
Fazil Seddiqui as Aziz
Molly Noble as Molly
Enoch Ku as Jason
Sich Liu as Restaurant Worker
Corey Seaver as Deliveryman
Nisha Steiger as Restaurant Patron
What is the Release Date of Fremont?
On January 20 of this year, the movie had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Beginning on August 25 in San Francisco, the film will have a limited theatrical release at select venues for three weeks.
Who is the Director of Fremont?
Babak Jalali is a film director and producer born in Iran but currently resides in the United Kingdom. He is most known for directing Radio Dreams, for which he was awarded the Hivos Tiger Award at the 45th International Film Festival Rotterdam. Fremont, Jalali’s fourth feature film, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023, was co-written, edited, and directed by Jalali.
FREMONT | Official Trailer | In Select Theaters August 25
What is the Plot of Fremont?
The movie provides a slice-of-life look at the life of the character Donya, who is from the troubled nation of Afghanistan. She was lucky enough to be able to relocate to California thanks to her potentially hazardous job as a translator for the United States. On the other hand, Donya will have to start a new life and figure out what her mission is in this better country. This helps overcome certain feelings and difficulties, such as regret for leaving home and having no purpose in life.
The comedy-drama film does have some light deadpan humor in it, but it also provides social commentary on the current political and social condition in Afghanistan, which is relevant. The story looks at the plight of Afghan immigrants and refugees as a result of the war, contextualized by the history of the conflict and the occupation of Afghanistan by the United States military. As Jalali explained in an earlier interview, he drew inspiration from the real-life experiences of Afghan translators who immigrated to the United States.
“When I first heard that there were translators living in Fremont, what initially piqued my interest about them was the lifestyle that they led. They had been disregarded, neglected, and treated similarly inconsiderately. Originally, I would make a movie about a translator because of something that shocked me; nevertheless, the plot ended up different.”
During an interview with Vulture, he also said that he felt obligated to concentrate the plot around an independent Afghan woman to disprove the “fallacy” that “women in Afghanistan are oppressed, and they don’t do anything.”
Fremont is another film that contributes to the ever-expanding diversity of unique stories and offers a perspective rarely shown in the movie. It does this by focusing on the mining town of Fremont, Nevada. The following is what is included in the film’s official plot summary:
“A stunning and disturbed young woman in her 20s, Donya, an Afghan translator who formerly worked for the United States government, has difficulty falling or staying asleep. She is an immigrant from Afghanistan but lives by herself in Fremont, California, in a building with other Afghans. She frequently eats at a nearby restaurant while watching soap operas by herself. When she was promoted to authoring the fortunes at her job at a fortune cookie factory in the city, her daily routine was shaken up significantly. Donya’s scorching yearning compels her to send a message into the world, even though she has no idea where it will go. Strangers all across the Bay Area are reading her fortunes.”