What did a filmmaker who spent a year with the Taliban see in Afghanistan?

 Hollywood gate, US arms and 'fear': What did a filmmaker who spent a year with the Taliban see in Afghanistan?

Emma Jones

Designation, Entertainment Reporter

August 22, 2024

In August 2021, the world saw the scenes from Afghanistan when on the one hand the Taliban were entering the capital city of Kabul and on the other hand there were people who were trying to escape from the country.

But while thousands of people were willing to leave the country, there were only a handful of people trying to enter the country. Among them was Brahim Nishat, an Egyptian journalist and filmmaker living in Germany.

Ibrahim somehow managed to get permission to film in Afghanistan for a year, with the help of Maulvi Mansoor, the new commander of the Afghan Air Force, as well as Mukhtar, a Taliban commander.

Three years later, the result of their hard work has come out in the form of a documentary called 'Hollywood Gate', named after the former US military base where most of the scenes were filmed.

But in his search for a story of Afghanistan's new era, Ibrahim often found himself in trouble as the new government became known for its use of force in power.

Once during the recording, an unknown Taliban military figure addressed Mukhtar in Ibrahim's presence and said, "That little devil is making a film, I hope he will not embarrass us in front of China."

On another occasion Maulvi Mansoor spoke this sentence in front of Ibrahim that 'if his intention is bad, he will die soon.'

When Ibrahim was asked about this, he said, "At that time, I did not know what he was saying." I told my translator not to tell me if they say anything bad about me because I didn't want to be disturbed.

Although Ibrahim was asked to stop recording several times, he managed to gather enough material to make the film a glimpse into the life of US troops in Afghanistan. These include exercise machines.

Maulvi Mansoor asked at one point during the film that a machine should be sent to his house. Also, a fridge containing liquor is also seen. But the film also includes weapons and military equipment left behind by the US military, including 73 aircraft and 100 military vehicles.

When Maulvi Mansoor and his team arrived to inspect the US base for the first time, a Taliban leader said, "They spent their last days destroying everything here."

The US military leadership said at the time that it was ensured that the equipment left in Afghanistan was unusable. However, Ibrahim notices that some of the planes are being repaired and in one scene the officials assure Maulvi Mansoor that some of the planes have now been repaired and can be flown...

Question for America?

Ibrahim told the BBC he was shocked to see how much stuff was left behind.

"When I first saw Hollywood Gate written about the base, I decided that would be the name. I thought I would make a film about a place that was held by the US but is now occupied by the Taliban Air Force.

"I thought it would show the Taliban sleeping in American beds, but mostly it turned out to be a film about American weapons."

"It's unbelievable that it's all here," he says. This is the question for the American authorities, why did they leave it all behind? And how many warehouses are full of such goods? And till the end of the filming, I didn't think that those Taliban would be able to fix it all.

But in August 2022, a military parade was held at Bagram Air Base, attended by the Afghan prime minister and defense minister, and American weapons were triumphantly displayed. The diplomats of Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran were also present in this event where a flypast of several planes was also done on the instructions of Maulvi Mansoor.

The American media has published such news that the American weapons left in Afghanistan have been used in various conflicts in the world. Ibrahim says the film shows how the Taliban turned into a military regime.

Ibrahim could not continue recording after the parade because, according to him, he realized that he would have to flee the country. Intelligence officials asked them to show their footage. But instead of going to them, Ibrahim turned to Kabul Airport.

They told me to come to our office tomorrow with all your material, we want to see it. It was dangerous for me, so I left Afghanistan immediately.

"I know of governments that when this happens, nothing good happens," says Ibrahim.

Ibrahim says that he came to Afghanistan because "when a story is not hot, no one is interested in it, I wanted to reverse it."

                                                    Ibrahim can be seen with the camera

Ibrahim explains that he was helped in this task because he has worked with many world leaders and "the Taliban have seen pictures of me with different presidents."

Working with Ibrahim was Navalny documentary producer and Canadian Oscar-winner Odessa Roy. Ibrahim says that Hollywood Gate is a film in which the Taliban show that they understand propaganda.

"I think that the stories that Hollywood has told us about the military world are also about them."

The Taliban commanders allowed Ibrahim to record on a very limited scale, and this is probably why the reviews written about the film in various newspapers have indicated this. The Guardian newspaper wrote that "there is an obvious reason why all his characters hate him."

Abraham has a philosophical stance on this. "When you do something like this, you know there are risks involved and I recognized that," he says.

He also emphasized that at the beginning of the film, where he says that 'the Taliban wanted people to see the scenes they were showing', he questions, 'Despite all this, do you I can show you what I saw.'

"My job is to raise questions and hope that viewers will find the answers to those questions themselves. My aim was to understand the truth of their intentions, the truth of power and authority, the truth of women, ordinary citizens and the realities of the region.

There are no women in this film. Only one or two women are seen passing by.

In one scene, a burqa-clad woman sits on a cold street. In a few other places the women are in the shop and it seems, but not clear, that they are begging.

"Painful Scenes"

After the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, restrictions on women's lives have increased. Girls cannot go to secondary school, cannot sit most university entrance exams and can only work to a limited extent. Beauty salons have been closed and they are not even allowed to go to parks or sports clubs.

Maulvi Mansoor tells in the film that his own wife was a doctor before marriage but then he convinced his wife to quit her job.

The United Nations estimates that two-thirds of the population does not have enough food, and restrictions on women have worsened the situation.

"It's painful to see these scenes and know that this is reality," says Ibrahim. It is very ugly, what is happening there, very painful.'

"When I was leaving there, I felt that I would not be able to show the pain of the Afghan citizens. And even though I was with the Taliban, I saw fear in people's eyes, I saw pain, I saw fatigue.

I have traveled a lot in the world but I have not seen such poverty in any other country. It is very sad that no one cares what is happening to this country.

"The pain I went through in the making of this film is nothing compared to the pain that Afghan citizens go through on a daily basis."

Related Topics

#Afghanistan #The movie #Women's rights #art artist #The Taliban