As Far As They Can Run / Film School Radio interview with Director Tanaz Eshaghian

AS FAR AS THEY CAN RUN takes us to rural to Pakistan, where families with disabled children have few options. Some desperate parents keep their children locked up or even chained. When athletic coaches from Karachi persuade the parents of three teenagers -- Ghulam, Sana, Sajawal – to allow the kids to participate in a sports training program as part of a Special Olympics initiative, the families glimpse the hope that living with disability doesn’t have to mean that their children are "useless." But they and the coaches must confront the question of what sports can—and cannot—change. Over a one-year period, Iranian American filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian follows three disabled children and their families as they grapple with shame and prejudice in rural Pakistan to realize new talents and a sense of belonging through sports. Intimate and unflinching, hopeful and tragic, AS FAR AS THEY CAN RUN is a fascinating look at those who are struggling to find acceptance and worth in a society that had relegated them to the margins. Director Tanaz Eshaghian joins us for a conversation on all of the daunting challenges, physical, logistically and psychologically in shooting the children and their situation, as well as the joy of seeing the benefit the program has on their lives. To watch: paramountplus.com/movies/As Far As They Can Run