Paikar (2025) is playing at Hot Docs 2026

Dawood Hilmandi returns home to try and reconnect with is father who was a mujahideen fighter, later a spiritual leader, writer, and poet. There was distance and silence between the pair and Hilmandi wants to find some common ground.

This is a stunning film that really isn’t one we’ve seen before. You don’t normally see a complex relationship between a father and son in an Islamic family like this. It is a relationship that isn’t black or white, which is normally how films that we see in America are portrayed. I found myself leaning in, wanting to know more about this world that was out side of my experience.

What I love about the film is that Hilmandi frames everything with love and grandeur. There is beauty to every image, even of the simplest one has weight and power to it.

I am haunted by this film.  This was the first of three I watched in succession and after ach that followed I wanted to return to this film and the people on screen.

Recommended.

Brief thoughts on In The Room (2026) Santa Barbara 2026

This is the story of five Afghan women who flked their country and use their positions in Canada to try and reveal the life they left behind and what is like to be from Afghanistan

Using recreations, straight interviews and some artistic florishes, IN THE ROOM tries to bring the lives of its subjects to life. While I found the women's stories compelling I'm not too fond on the means it used to tell the story. I really wish that the film had  been a more straight forward telling of the stories. While what here is compelling, the means of telling the story distracts from the stories.

IN THE ROOM is worth a look but you may wish for something a bit meatier.

Last Ambassador (2025) DOCNYC 2025

With the haunting LAST AMBASSADOR playing at DOC NYC Thursday, I am reposting my review from when it world premiered earlier in the year.

This is a portrait of the Afghan ambassador in Vienna, Manizha Bakhtari, who remains the country's only female ambassador since the Taliban's takeover.

This is a solid portrait of a woman doing what she feels is right under an incredibly difficult situation, she works for a regime that very much wants to shut out women from public life. She has used her position to help Afghan women and girls continue to be educated, despite the Taliban ban on their going to school.

This is an eye-opening film in a lot of ways. You would think that with all the problems the Taliban has created (she was appointed prior to their take over) that she would have walked away, but she is trying to do the right thing and make a difference. 

Watching the film is a bittersweet affair. While you will take Bakhtari into your heart, you will hurt from the problems she faces and the impossible situations she has to deal with. She truly is a hero.

Recommended.

Kabul, BetweenPrayers (2025) Venice 2025

 

Life in Kabul Afghanistan after the fall as primarily seen through the lives of three brothers.

This is very deliberate observational film that is going to rattle cages.  The film simply shows the lives of the brothers, though it is primarily focusing on the eldest, as they try to earn a living, serve in the army and learn the teachings of Islam as taught by the Taliban. It seemingly dispassionately lets us watch as their lives unfold before us and how religious belief is the folded into everything they do.

Religion is everywhere. The film begins with a long prayer at the start, and it ends with one under the images of various young men all looking exactly the same as they prepare to live their lives for Allah. We understand why they view the world as they do, the Taliban controlling everything they see and hear. It's a study in indoctrination that has frightening implications in a larger world since this is how the world is fragmenting into a grand "us vs them". There is a sadness in watching these young men all become, literally, the same cookie cutter person.

This is a portrait that isn't going to sit well with some people. They are not going to like that the filmmakers don't push or challenge the people on screen.  However, this isn't that sort of a film. Instead, this is a film about showing us about what is. That what is, is not something that many people will like since it is portrait of religious extremism that puts God and martyrdom first above all else. Indeed, the opening prayer is a long one praising the holy work of suicide bombers.

I many ways this is a tough watch because this is a film that is trip into a mindset that is alien to our own. If you ever wanted to know how people could be such true believers, this film will show you.

A word of warning: this film moves at the speed of Afghan life. Events play out in an approximation of real time. There is a "slowness" to the events. You have to be patient and be willing to go where this film takes you.

Worth a look for the curious.

Brief thoughts on BODYGUARD OF LIES (2025) Tribeca 2025

 This is a look at how the chase to get Bin Laden was a complete and utter disaster.

This is a damning film that shows how the entire Afghanistan adventure was doomed from the start. It's a film that shows how the idea that we could just throw money at it and everything would be okay and we'd get the bad guys, was dead wrong. The film clearly shows that the current American idea of how everyone wants democracy and the American way was dead on wrong. 

I thought I knew how bad it was, but the truth is I had no idea how bad.  I'm guessing if you see this film you will realize you didn't know it either.

Half way into the film I wanted to throw up, and I suspect you will too.  You will lose any respect that you had for the American government.

This is is a vital and important film, you need to see.

Recommended

THE LAST AMBASSADOR (2025) CPH:DOX 2025

This is a portarit of the Afghan ambassador in Vienna, Manizha Bakhtari, who remains the country's only female ambassador since the Taliban's takeover.

This is a solid portrait of a woman doing what she feels is right under an incredibly difficult situation, she works for a regeime that very much wants to shut out women from public life. She has used her position to help Afghan women and girls continue to be educated, despite the Taliban ban on their going to school.

This is an eye opening film in a lot of ways. You would think that with all the problems the Taliban has created (she was appointed prior to their take over) that she would have walked away, but she is trying to do the right thing and make a difference. 

Watching the film is a bitter sweet affair. While you will take Bakhtari into your heart, you will hurt from the problems she faces and the impossible situations she has to deal with. She truly is a hero.

Recommended.

Twin Fences (2024) Slamdance 2025

Nominally this is director Yana Osman's exploration of a certain fence made in the former Soviet Union. The truth is this is a cinematic journey that is essentially a 90 minute digression during which she explores the places she lived and life over the last few decades.

If that doesn't make sense don't feel bad. There is probably nothing I could ell you about this film that will prepare you for what it is. That's not a bad thing. It is in fact a very good thing  because it means no matter what I say you will be surprised.

This film at first confused me because I had no idea what it was doing and then I just was so intrigued that by the time I got to the end I wanted it to keep going because I was having so much fun just riding around.

What an absolute joy

All films should result in the audience sitting there in wide eyed wonder traveling where ever the director goes,

In all honestly I can't say anything about this film other than just see it because that is the only way to do it justice. 

One of the great discoveries of 2025. See it where you can.

CHAMPIONS OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY (2024) Tribeca 2024

This is a portrait of the the men and women in Afghanistan who took up skiing after  the Taliban were removed by American forces. The film also deals with their lives in exile that resulted when the Taliban returned.

Another great Tribeca sports film. I say  another because every year that I've attended the Tribeca film Festival (this is my 15th) I have found all of the sports documentaries that they have programmed were some of the best films of the fest and of year.

The film is centered around Afghan Olympic hopeful Alishah Farhang who established Afghanistan’bitts first ever ski club and the annual Afghan Ski Challenge in the town of Bamyan. Over the course of the film we meet the skiiers while learning about how skiing came to Afghanistan. 

A bittersweet film, the film shows us something that brought great joy a nation. I never knew the history of skiing in Afghanistan. Honestly I never thought much of it, but seeing this film was a wonderful "ah ha" moment.  It was also a bit sad because it's clear that the Taliban have no sense of fun.

I really liked this film a great deal. I know that isn't the best review, but this film is good time with good people. It's a film that will make you hope that one day they will be allowed to Bamyan for another ski competition.

Recommended

Sharp Edge of Peace (2024) Hot Docs 2024

This is the story of the four women who were part of the four women who were part of the Afghani government's team that worked with the Taliban in order to maintain women's rights in 2021. We watch as they show struggle to maintain women's rights, and deal with a group who wants to crush them.

While the film was shot as events happening and no one could know how things were going to play out (though they could suspect). Knowing how it all played out makes this a bittersweet film. While we see the strength of the women and admire their tenacity, we are also kind of crushed because we know the Taliban lied and took away every right as soon as it was safe for them to do so.

This is a super film. It's a look behind the headlines and it fills us in on what happened when mainstream media stopped watching what the Taliban was doing. As such it is a warning about where the world maybe going as well as a ray of hope by revealing that there are good people out there who will fight the good fight and bring light into darkness. 

Recommended.

KAMAY (2024) Vision Du Réel

 

Kamay is the name of a stubborn grass that grows in the middle of Afghanistan.  It is a symbol for the people who live there who refuse to give up and bow to authorities. It is a representation of the family of a girl named Zahra who killed herself after a run in with a teacher who was the dean of her school.

KAMAY the film is the story of Zahra’s family, who a year after her death are trying to not only get justice for her daughter but just get her possessions back from the authorities on Kabul.

This is a pastoral film that moves at the speed of life. It is a film where we watch the family as they work around their home, just trying to live their lives, while at the same time trying to connect with the people working for justice in Kabul. We also follow the family as they make the days long car ride trips into the city, through the mountains, the snow, and assorted other dangers.

KAMAY is a very moving film. It is a film perfectly designed to make us feel what the people on the screen are feeling. A brilliant use of pacing and minimal camera movement we feel as though we are moving through life with the family.  We feel the weight of their lives in ways that most films don’t give us. I was touched.

That said the pace of the film is very slow.  As I said it moves at the speed of life. If you either don’t like that or can’t click with it this is going to be a tough slog. I think what we see and what we experience is worth the trip, but that may not work for you.

Ultimately KAMAY is magnificent film that you should see, especially if you can see it on the big screen where you can fall into the images.

Recommended

In The Land of Brothers (2024) Sundance 2024

An Afghan family moves to Iran and spends decades living and waiting for citizenship, and most importantly a place where they belong.

This is a very good look at a side of life most of us really haven';t considered. Sure we have seen numerous films about being a migrant or a refugee, but we haven't seen one from the perspective of a family moving through Muslim Nations. More times than not it's a trip to Europe. While Europe figures into the tale it's not the focus. I mention this up front because this focus is what makes the film instantly worth seeing.

I really liked IN THE LAND OF BROTHERS a great deal. It's a film that took me a little bit to get into, I was expecting something slightly different, so I didn't warm to it at first. Then somewhere along the way I clicked with it's rhythms and was carried along. I loved that no one and nothing is what I expected, so much so that the ending, the final images moved me deeply...and more importantly haunted me as I went through the rest of my day after watching it.

This is one you'll want to see. 

Recommended

One Bullet (2023) Slamdance 2024

This is the 15 year story of filmmaker Carol Dysinger who went to Afghanistan to track down the story behind a phot of young man who was shot  by a single bullet outside his home. It resulted in a deep friendship with the young man's mother.

The film begins as a kind of police procedural as Dysinger follows some American soldiers as they investigate the shooting. If the person who did the shooting the family would get a pay out. When she interviews the boy's mother, Bibi Hajji, a connection was formed. Over the course of the film we watch as the women build bridges between themselves and their worlds.

I was not really in love with the film at the start. I thought the procedural portion of the film was too by the numbers. I never connected. However once Carol meets Bibi  the film flipped and I was hooked for the long haul. 

This is a great film. This truly is a film that shows us life during war time that isn't about war. It's about the cost and aftermath of armed conflict on regular people. It's a film that really shows us the effect of one death on a family and how you never get over it.

I was moved to tears several times because for the first time we are truly forced to see the pain and suffering too many people are being forced to experience. This is a vital and important film that transcends being just about the conflict in Afghanistan, but all the conflicts happening everywhere across the globe. In an age where more people think violence is the way to go go, ONE BULLET makes us understand that that the pain and suffering that results is much too high a cost.

Highly recommended.

RIDERS ON THE STORM (2023) DOC NYC

This is easily one of my favorite films of DOC NYC. It’s one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen in 2023 and it’s a film I am hoping to see again on a big screen because the images are so stunning I need to lose myself in them a second time.

This film is the story of Khaiber Akbarzada who is a champion player of buzkashi (a game involving a goat carcass) in Afghanistan.  As he is rising higher and higher in the sport the Taliban is coming crashing back into power. Forced to contend with the social changes that it brings on every level, and having a status that makes him a possible target Akbarzada must decide what to do to sat alive.

I’m not going to lie, this is a good sports bio made great by a slightly different subject and some of the most amazing cinematography I have ever seen. There is a tactile quality to the images that make you feel what you are seeing. Tryst me what is on screen is some of the most eye popping images you have ever seen with the images taking on a painterly quality. I dare your jaw not to hang open.

This film blew me away.

I have no idea what to say other than go see this on as a big a screen as possible, your eyes will thank me.

Highly recommended.

Transition (2023) Tribeca 2023

Journalist Jordan Bryon walks a razors edge as Afghanistan falls to the Taliban and he begins his transition from female to male. As the country explodes around him he can't let the Taliban fighters he is profiling know that he was born a woman. 

Edge of your seat biography will have you wondering how this is all going to come out. While we know on some level this will be fine, you can't be certain to what degree nor what is going to happen to the people around him. This is a hell of a tale that is expertly told.

Truth of the matter is that TRANSITION is the sort of absolutely great film that can get lost in a huge festival like Tribeca. Anyone I know who saw the film loved it, but many people simply didn't have it on their radar. You need to put this on your list of must sees and track it down either at the next festival or when it shows up in theaters.

NIGHT DOCTRINE (2023) Tribeca 2023

A young woman whose family was killed during the unending war in Afghanistan returns to the country to investigate the American Zero Squads that the brought terror in the night and left thousands of civilians dead.

This is a good look at a side of the Afghanistan war that isn’t usually covered, the night time raids that are only mentioned in passing and usually only when something goes horribly wrong.  This is a look at all the raids and it looks at all sides of the attacks, both the civilians and the soldiers. It’s disturbing tale that is going to make you wonder why this was allowed to go on.

What We Left Behind (2020) plays Ovid.TV December 16

One of the best films at 2020's DOC NYC explores the unfinished films left behind by the communist regimes that occupied Afghanistan from the late 1970's to 1991. 

A mix of found footage with interviews with the men and women who worked on them the film is not only a peak into what appears to be grossly under covered Afghan film industry but also a peak into the country's history- a history that we in American have no clue about since all we think is Taliban and warfare.

An absolute must see.

My Sunny Maad (2021) Animation First 2022

MY SUNNY MAAD is the story of a Czech woman who finds her country men boring and ends up falling madly in love with an Afghan man. After a two month courtship she moves to  Kabul and they marry.  As she tries to adjust to her new life she discovers that she and her husband can not have children and they take in a local boy with health issues.

This is a look at life in Afghanistan between the times of the Taliban. It’s a sober and bracing story of life in place most people only know from the news. It’s a film full of life, both the good and bad. We get a look at the patriarchal society that existed there even as women were given more freedom.  But we also get a loving portrait of some really good people.

This is a film that is very much for more mature audiences. Despite how the images look this is not a film for kids since it is dealing with some very serious subjects. It’s a film that is similar to, but lighter than SWALLOWS OF KABUL and FLEE.

I really like the film a great deal, however I know I need another viewing to fully unpack everything that is going on in the film. I also know I will need to space my next viewing out for a bit because this film has some deeply emotional and hard hitting moments.

Recommended

THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR (2021)hits Netflix Monday

This is the story of young Afghan Shaista, who is newly married and in love with his new wife. He loves to sing her songs that delight and embarrass her. He wants to better himself and considers joining the military or picking poppies.

This is an excellent short film that will break your heart. Following Shaista over the course of several years it’s the story of one man trying to do the best he can for his family and the troubles he find. Its a film that quietly shows life in Afghanistan for just a regular guy. It’s a tough life where making ends meet is daily struggle. I was moved.

I also kind of wish this was a feature. There is a jump across years toward the end of the film and I am very curious to know what happened in the jump. Actually we know, but I would like to have seen what transpired. My one wish for the end of the film would be to know where things are now. With the events obviously before the Taliban retake over of the country, I want to know where Shaista and his family are now.

Highly recommended THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR starts on Netflix on January  24th

What We Left Unfinished is released August 6

One of the best films at 2020's DOC NYC explores the unfinished films left behind by the communist regimes that occupied Afghanistan from the late 1970's to 1991. 

A mix of found footage with interviews with the men and women who worked on them the film is not only a peak into what appears to be grossly under covered Afghan film industry but also a peak into the country's history- a history that we in American have no clue about since all we think is Taliban and warfare.

An absolute must see.

Unseen Films Stay At Home Festival: Film Twenty Four: Patience Stone (2012)

This is a repost of the second piece I wrote on THE PATIENCE STONE. Its a film that has haunted me longer than the four months mentioned here. Where I honestly can't remember most films I saw at Tribeca that year, I remembered this one. It is a small but powerful film worth your time.

It is currently on several streaming services.

I saw the PATIENCE STONE back at Tribeca 2013. When I saw the film I liked it. (My original review can be found here) And while I liked it I kind of expected it to end up like most of the 80 or so films I saw at the festival, half remembered two weeks after it's over.

That's not what happened.

What happened was the film haunted me. It stayed around the fringes of my psyche and dared me to forget it. I couldn't forget it and some four months on I'm still thinking about the film.

Actually what I'm thinking about is Golshifteh Farahani, the star of the film. She turns in one of the best performances of the year and maybe a couple of years. If the film works, and it does, its because she grabs you by the throat and makes you feel all of her characters pain and anguish and hope. She is on screen for the entire film and she makes every second count.

The plot of the film for those who don't know concerns a woman in an unnamed country taking care of her catatonic husband. He was injured in a stupid fight, and its left to her to care for him as the country and her neighborhood is engulfed in warfare. With time to kill and not expecting him to really recover she pours out her life to him as if he were the mythical patience stone, which will take all of your sorrow and then break leaving you with a new start.

It may not sound like much, but trust me Golshifteh Farahani makes it worth seeing. This is one of those performances of the ages. Assuming the right people see it look for the film,and Farahani's performance to end up on end of year lists. Sadly the film will not get Oscar notice since it was Afghanistan's entry last year, which means that there will be no Oscars this year. Its a major loss because if there were justice she'd at the very least get a nomination.

Do yourself a favor and go see it. Trust me this is one you'll want to see before your friends come to tell you about it.