Private Project

Goni

‘Goni’ is a character-driven documentary film following the journey of Abdul Goni, a journalist, photographer, and a formerly-trafficked migrant worker from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The film follows Goni as he investigates the devastating impacts of rising sea levels and climate change in his home country and the resulting mass migration of young men to the Middle East against the backdrop of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar – while reflecting on his experience as a former migrant worker.

The film takes Goni to Doha during the glitzy, highly anticipated global gathering to celebrate one of humanity’s most loved sports - football. But underneath the surface of this athletic celebration - far from the stadium lights, lies a sinister underbelly that builds this very world - quite literally.

  • Rusha Bose
    Director of Photography
  • Aalok Padhye
    Editor
  • Zahaan Khan
    Music
  • Aalok Padhye
    Color
  • Tanmay Bhattacherjee
    Sound Design
  • Drona Acharya
    Re-recording Mixer
  • Nitye Sood
    Associate Producer
  • Amoli Birewar
    Production Manager
  • Malaika Vaz
    Director
  • Malaika Vaz
    Executive Producers
  • Shahidul Alam
    Executive Producers
  • Abdul Goni
    Presenter
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature, Short
  • Runtime:
    54 minutes 26 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 10, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    Bangladesh, Qatar
  • Language:
    Bengali, English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Jackson Wild
    Jackson Hole
    United States
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Malaika Vaz

Malaika is a National Geographic Explorer, filmmaker and presenter - and the co-founder and CEO of Untamed Planet, a factual production company. She has been directing and hosting films and television series for media networks like National Geographic, Al Jazeera, Discovery Channel, BBC and Animal Planet. Her work has taken her across some of the most hostile terrain on all seven continents - including hiking across glaciers in the Antarctic, filming undercover with criminal syndicates and diving with tiger sharks. Malaika brings her expertise in writing, direction and storytelling to Untamed Planet's productions, and she loves working with the team to push boundaries and create compelling, impact-oriented documentary films.

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Director Statement

Set against the backdrop of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, GONI is at once an investigative documentary about the behind-the-scenes of Qatari World Cup and its human rights fallout, and a deeply personal story of one man on a quest to understand the challenges facing migrant workers while also reckoning with his past.
As a Director, choosing to have Abdul Goni as a protagonist and driving force in the film was a creative choice I made in order to upend the traditional Western gaze in documentary filmmaking. Gonis' experience of being sold, trafficked and exploited as a migrant worker and his vast experience as an award-winning local journalist together coalesced to make him the best person to tell this story about migration.
Goni understands this story like no one else, and through the filming process my team and I leaned into that - working with him to craft the narrative and visual language of the documentary from pre-production into the final stages of post-production.
Our crew spent weeks in the field - chasing this story in the midst of grave risks to our life given that we were filming a sensitive story in an authoritarian regime where journalism is heavily policed. Yet, we were able to get great access into some key locations - including the labour camps where migrants live and the football stadium - where we met with workers who lost their family members who were displaced.
The narrative thread of climate change - as a force that spurs migration from countries like Bangladesh and heats up countries like Qatar is one that repeats itself at the end. I believe that Goni’s story and that of the migrant workers he meets on his journey have the potential to become a catalyst for change, helping inspire more empathy for the migrant story globally.