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2025

We Are Not Powerless

World Premiere.

Guest in attendance.

Pink Carpet.

In December 2012, Muzafar Ali and his wife Nagina escaped the Taliban in Afghanistan. They found themselves living in Indonesia as refugees when Australia ‘stopped the boats’. Determined to do something, they started a small two room school, which soon became the hub of a community and the most successful refugee-led initiative in the world.

Director

Jolyon Hoff
Muzafar Ali

Runtime

90 Minutes

Country

Australia

Classification

Unclassified 15+

In December 2012, Muzafar Ali and his wife Nagina escaped the Taliban in Afghanistan. They found themselves living in Indonesia when Australia ‘stopped the boats’. With a small group of refugees, they received a $200 donation and founded a two-room school.

Since then, the schools in Indonesia have grown and there are now over 1300 refugee students and 130 refugee teachers. The students are obtaining school leaving certificates and entering universities around the world. Alumni from the schools have spoken at the United Nations and become doctors, teachers and lawyers, and they are returning to support the schools in Indonesia, where many went to school for the first time in their lives.

This powerful, emotional and decades-long narrative, anchored by Muzafar and Nagina’s love story, takes the audience inside the life of a refugee in a way that has never been captured before. We Are Not Powerless tells the story of what happens when people refuse to give up on each other.

“I’d love for as many people as possible to see the work of Jolyon Hoff and Muzafar Ali”

Andrea Michaels MP, Minister for the Arts South Australia

“A moving, powerful, urgent and deeply human film, this is a vital story to be telling right now.”

Tom Ballard

“Touching the nerve of human experience. A moving tribute to people who refused to become victims of circumstance. A must see!”

Marion Rose Le

logologo

Film Credits

Director

Jolyon Hoff & Muzafar Ali

Year

2025

Country

Australia

Language

English & Hazaragi

Subtitles

English

Type

Documentary & Feature

Program Strand

Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund & World Documentary

Producer

Jolyon HoffMuzafar Ali & Hamish Gibbs Ludbrook

Writer

Jolyon Hoff & Muzafar Ali

Cinematographer

Bonnie ElliottMaxx CorkindaleKhadim Dai & Andrew Commis

Editor

Peter O’Donoghue

Music

Sadie Harrison

Film Source

Light Sound Art Film

Genre

DocumentaryFeel-Good & Human Rights

Pink Carpet

Pink carpet – from 6:00pm
Screening — 6:30pm

When: Wednesday 22 October
Where:
Palace Nova Eastend

Purchase Tickets

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