Director Joshua Seftel and executive producer/Nobel Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai entered the Oscar race this January with the hard-hitting 29-minute short documentary “Stranger at the Gate,” which depicts the unlikely meeting between a PTSD-afflicted, Islamaphobic former Marine and the members of an Indiana mosque (notably an Afghan refugee named Bibi Bahrami) that help diffuse his violent tendencies toward them.
“Stranger at the Gate” has enjoyed incredible acclaim and recognition on the film festival circuit over the past several months, but there was one major fan that left them a little bit speechless, as revealed in a recent DGA screening in Los Angeles between Malala and director Seftel, exclusive video of which you can watch above.
“We were at the [Oscar] nominees luncheon, and we came upon Steven Spielberg, as one does…he said, ‘I’ve seen your film three times now and I’ve cried in a different spot,” Malala said.
Spielberg is nominated as director, cowriter and a producer of his majorly autobiographical drama “The Fabelmans” for this year’s Oscar ceremony.
Malala remembers this vital moment as being singular as well. “I think we were both going to talk to him about it, and he’s like, ‘no, no, I’ve seen it!’, and that was a big deal.” The Pakistani activist and global sensation also revealed she was a little star-struck traversing the Oscars luncheon. “We saw Tom Cruise, we saw Michelle Yeoh, we saw Austin Butler, this list goes on, it was an incredible day for us.” Seftel adds, “and they all wanted their picture with you“, he says, with Malala helpfully adding “with us…with us.”
“Stranger at the Gate” can be seen as part of the 2023 Oscar-Nominated Short Films series by ShortsTV now playing in cinemas nationwide. The 95th Oscars will air live on ABC on Sunday, March 12 at 5 p.m. PT.
