Debt to Afghanistan

In 1989, Swedish journalist, Khazar Fatemi narrowly fled the war torn country of Afghanistan with her life. Twenty years later, the former refugee returned to the place that has always remained in her heart. Where My Heart Beats follows Khazar's dangerous, painful, and inspirational journey back home to reconnect with the amazing people of this broken nation.

As a young and idealistic war correspondent, Graeme Smith followed the troops into battle in Afghanistan. Now he returns to a place that gave him nightmares to see if there is hope for peace. Smith revisits old friends and acquaintances and sees the deep divisions in the country.

On August 15, 2021, Afghanistan descends into chaos. In one day, the completion of the withdrawal of Western forces precipitated the debacle of the regime in place: the army vanished, the leaders fled and the Taliban took Kabul without a fight. The great Central Asian country opens a new chapter in its tragic history, twenty years after the "war on terror" launched by George W. Bush in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. The undisputed masters of 40 million trapped Afghans, the "students of religion" are back and are savoring their revenge by posing as the United States' victors. Their program will surprise no one: to restore the Islamic emirate and set up the "true" sharia, i.e. a perfect world, with divine commandments applied to the letter as in the time of the prophet.

French documentarist Sonia Kronlund follows actor and director Salim Shaheen, an Afghan movie star who produced more than 110 low-budget movies in a country devastated by war.

Over 90% of the world's opium now comes from Afghanistan. In this shocking new film, we ride the drugs caravan, from cultivation, to process, to market. On route, we lift the curtain on the hidden world of the drug barons; learn how to process heroin in the crudest of laboratories and encounter deadly gunfights on the Iranian border.

Armed only with their cameras, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning conflict Journalist Mike Boettcher, and his son, Carlos, provide unprecedented access into the longest war in U.S. history: they are embed with U.S. troops during nine days of intense combat in Afghanistan.

The story of Shaista, a young man who—newly married to Benazir and living in a camp for displaced persons in Kabul—struggles to balance his dreams of being the first from his tribe to join the Afghan National Army with the responsibilities of starting a family. Even as Shaista’s love for Benazir is palpable, the choices he must make to build a life with her have profound consequences.

This film creates a real-life epic of boyhood and manhood that follows the same individual over 20 years, living in one of the most dangerous countries in the world. When we first meet Mir, he is a mischievous boy of seven living in a cave in central Afghanistan alongside the Buddhas of Bamiyan, two statues that were recently destroyed. For two decades, the film follows the adventures of his life, until, as an adult with a family of his own, he decides to pursue his own career as a news cameraman in Kabul. More than just a personal journey, My Childhood, My Country is an powerful examination of what has – and has not – been achieved in Afghanistan over the past 20 years.

Near-silent and shot via a cell phone, a war veteran observes the world which has been colored by his experiences in Afghanistan.

Annie Goldson and Kay Ellmers’ doco, expanded from the film they made for Maori Television, takes a timely look at New Zealand’s military and media, notably journalist Jon Stephenson, in Afghanistan.

The Soviet Army Prepares for Action in Afghanistan is derived from four shots of a Soviet film called Heirs of Victory (1975) which commemorates the Allied triumph over fascism in World War II. The original film celebrates the military might of the USSR in images of explosions and armed men leaping through flames. These images are subjected to such thorough manipulation that they become patterns flickering like a multitude of abstract paintings, with digital smears standing in for squeegee marks and brush strokes. Slowly the shots become less abstract until they are completely recognizable, though still somehow rather surreal.

In Jaan the filmmaker uses her mother’s forbidden cassettes and dance to tell the stories and show the spirit of Afghan women across generations.

Afghanistan : les derniers résistants

A look back at the years leading up to the fall of Kabul and the perilous evacuation of civilians trapped inside the embassy in the hours following the Taliban's takeover of the country.

According to the official history of Afghanistan, ruthless destruction has always prevailed over art and creation; but there is another tale to be told, the forgotten account of a diverse and progressive country, seen through the lens of innovative filmmakers, a story that survives thanks to a few brave Afghans, a small but very passionate group that secretly fought to save a huge film archive that was constantly menaced by war and religious fanaticism.

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

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.

16 Days in Afghanistan is a documentary that documents the state of Afghan people after the fall of the Taliban.

In 1979, the Soviets had ill-suited uniforms and inferior fighting tactics, and found it impossible to defeat the popular Afghan guerrilla army. They had underestimated their enemy and lacked the forces to win.