The year is 2732.
Hey, it could happen.
Who wants to die?
Nasar Ghafoor in ‘The Eternal Father’The New Yorker
If there was a way of cheating death, yeah, why not?
Ghafoor says of his reasoning.
I thought, well, go for it.
Nasar Ghafoor celebrates his 59th birthday with his son HadjiThe New Yorker
Ive got nothing to lose.
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I did remarry at a later age, he notes.
It always occurred to me, I want to be here longer, I want to be here longer.
And I thought that by exploring it through Nasars family, theyre so relatable…
The filmmaker met his protagonist at a cryonics informational meeting, of the kind held periodically in the U.K.
I really struggled to find someone that lit up my imagination.
In the film, Ghafoor sits in a wood-paneled living room with his kids, discussing the preservation plan.
If the average [lifespan] is 70 for males, Ive only got 10 years?
Thats what comes through my mind.
I want to see you get married, see your children, he tells his son and daughters.
One daughter notes, I mean, its the cycle of humans.
Its what they go through.
Nasar laughs, Im gonna break the cycle.
In voiceover at the beginning ofEternal Father, Ghafoor describes the ins and outs of cryonic preservation.
A first step would be for a doctor to declare him legally dead.
If it works, it works.
If it doesnt, it doesnt, he tells Deadline.
Life insurance is life insurance.
Thats the way I see it.
So, if it doesnt happen, it doesnt happen.
Sami adds, Your death has to be under the right circumstances.
The life insurance would pay out to your family and the cryonics facility would get none of that money.
Theyre not promising to revive you.
Theyre saying, Our job is to store you here until the science evolves enough.
Eternal Fatheris streaming (for free) onThe New Yorkerwebsite and the magazinesYouTube channel.
Its one of 15 short documentaries to make the Oscar shortlist.
My initial goal was to have it premiere IDFA, and that was fulfilled.
And since then, its just been a kind of riding this wild dream wave.
So yeah, its amazing and a wonderful surprise.
Ghafoor shared his assessment of the film with us.
When Omer first showed our family the finished documentary, we were in tears, me and my family.
It was really, really incredible, he says.
It was better than what I expected, what I was thinking.
The only downside, it just felt too short.
I wish it was a bit longer.
Ah, that Nasar.
Always wanting to extend things.
