‘Third Land’ Director on the Risks of Chronicling the Lives of Iranian Refugees in Turkey: It Was ‘Extremely Tense and Frightening’

Oct 27, 2026 6:00am PT ‘Third Land’ Director on the Risks of Chronicling the Lives of Iranian Refugees in Turkey: It Was ‘Extremely Tense and Frightening’

By Will Tizard

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Will Tizard

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In the unnerving docu “Third Land,” director and Iranian émigré Farzad Khoshdast chronicles the permanent limbo of a family living on the margins in Turkey.

Screening at the Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival this week, the film follows an Iranian engineer, his wife, Hananeh, and son as they deal with the daily contradictions of life as refugees in a third land – that is, one where their refugee status has been recognized by international aid organizations but their legal residence has not been.

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