The Art of Flight

A guerrilla documentary shot illegally in Egypt serves as a back story to the 2006 massacre of Sudanese refugees in Cairo and saw the filmmaker nearly arrested three times during shooting.

'The Art of Flight' tells three distinct stories; that of a refugee from southern Sudan, a human rights activist from northern Sudan, and an American journalist in self-imposed exile. The filmmaker, Davin Hutchins, left America for the Middle East after the events of September 11th shook his political beliefs. In Egypt, he begins life as a freelance travel writer. Later, he is drawn in to the plight of Sudanese refugees in Cairo - many from Darfur. He is compelled to write stories of substance after witnessing their abuses first hand. During his investigation, he risks arrest by Egyptian authorities, confronts apathetic American news editors, and presses UNHCR to explain its arbitrary asylum procedures to get their story told. He soon begins to question his own objectivity, debating whether he should report on the refugees or simply help them.