Afghanistan: The Battle for Helmand

This film is a glimpse of the traditional life of the Afghan people, their culture and their music, just before the Russian intervention in 1979.

Abby Martin covers the whole truth about the Afghanistan War. Two decades, three administrations, tens of thousands of lives.

Les échappées de Kaboul

This documentary offered tantalizing glimpses of Afghanistan, which in 1929 was still one of the few heavily-populated areas in the world where the residents continued to live as they did in the Middle Ages. A progressive new leader named Amnullah tries to "Westernize" the country, meeting plenty of resistance from native reactionaries.

By immersing themselves in a Taliban village, and after gaining very rare access to major institutions, the directors shed a disturbing light on today's Taliban society, and on the workings of this ultra-conservative parallel state. whose leaders have just symbolically moved into the presidential palace, to assert a stranglehold that foreshadows the Afghanistan of tomorrow.

In March 2001, the ruling Taliban destroyed Afghanistan's foremost tourist attraction, the 1600 year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan. This film follows the story of one of the refugees who now lives among the ruins….an eight-year-old boy named Mir.

The story of a country that is obliged to give up on its future... The documentary pictures the town of Tor famous for its coal mines located in the north of Afghanistan, which most of us haven’t even heard of, and the tragedy of the children that are obliged to work there.

An Afghan mother and a US filmmaker, connected through one stray bullet, forge a surprising friendship amidst America's longest war.

Afri, a three-time World Surfing Games participant, has spent a lifetime searching for the world's best coastlines for surf, but never in his home country of Afghanistan. Filmed in three continents, this documentary follows Afridun's journey back to his home country with the help of some river surfers to find surfable waves and bring a drop of joy to the people there. The group battles with continual challenges on their 10-day journey from raging whitewater to culture clash. Their inspiring mission uncovers a long lost mystical side of a country battling with conflict through breathtaking landscapes and the desire to discover something new.

In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Four years later—the Islamic calendar's year 1362—, director Volker Koepp visited Kabul and neighboring provinces. Koepp met a cross-section of people, such as soldiers, intellectuals, kids, and nomads, and with sensitive intensity told stories of their daily lives in the turmoil of an “undeclared war.” This travelogue, which was undertaken with the GDR’s consent, took a political risk because it expresses Koepp’s doubt that conflicts can be solved through military invention.

Filmmaker Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed) carefully examines the war in Afghanistan, raising challenging questions about the destabilization of Pakistan, U.S. troop escalation, ballooning military costs, civilian casualties and much more. Through fascinating interviews with Afghans, veterans, reporters, ex-CIA agents and foreign-policy experts, Greenwald's incisive documentary urges an immediate de-escalation of the conflict.

À ciel ouvert

On September 9, 2001, Commander Massoud, a hero of the Afghan resistance, was assassinated by two members of al-Qaeda posing as journalists. Two days later, the terrorist organization struck the United States. However, a few months earlier, during a visit to France, Commander Massoud had come to warn the West about the disastrous plans of al-Qaeda and the rise of the Taliban. He asked the West to exert pressure on Pakistan, a country that supplied arms, supported and sheltered the Taliban, but which was also a major buyer of French arms. He was not listened to.

Exposes the tangled web of deception spun by the U.S. government during its 20-year war in Afghanistan, revealing the campaign of lies and misinformation fed to the American public. Through shocking testimonies from government insiders, confidential documents, and private audio recordings of those at the highest levels of the military and elected leadership, this gripping documentary urges a reckoning with the wider implications of government deception on a global scale.

The four Afghan refugees who have applied for asylum in Austria strike up the song, “The caravan moves on” again and again. Encouraged by the journalist Lucy Ashton to record their lives on their smartphone cameras as a video diary, the friends film their precarious daily routine between visits to authorities, small jobs, and changing accommodations. Yet even when hope is lost, one certainty remains: the power of friendship.

An insight into a girls' school in Afghanistan which imposes an even stricter interpretation of Islam than the Taliban.

When two men compete to qualify in the Winter Olympics for the first time for Afghanistan, they realize that home is worth fighting for. In their wake they leave a passion for skiing and a hope for a brighter future. Where the Light Shines is the debut documentary from Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Daniel Etter with stunning cinematography by Angello Faccini. It is produced by Academy Award nominees Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis along with Steven Sawalich from Articulus Entertainment. Filmed over four years, Where the Light Shines paints an intimate portrait of life in Afghanistan and shows the difficulties of trying to create change in a country that for generations has only seen war.

Jawed Taiman takes a distinct look at Afghanistan and lets the Afghan people have their say. En route through the different provinces, through urban and rural regions, in discussion with intellectuals and simple folk, politicians and Taliban fighters a multifaceted picture emerges of a country that is often portrayed as incomprehensible.

Longe de Cabul

Karim Asir, the Afghan Charlie Chaplin, in the midst of bombs and disasters, gives performances using laughter as his only weapon. When the Taliban takeover, Karim is threatened with death. After a series of adversities, he manages to arrive in Greece. We follow his life adventure, and through his story, we explore the issue of laughter – in Afghanistan and beyond.