“Filmmakers do not realize their power. If they raise their voices in solidarity for the people of Afghanistan… it will work,” Afghan director Sahraa Karimi told DW. She plans to turn her flight from Kabul into a film.
In Venice, distant from Kabul and the Taliban, Afghan filmmakers are urging the international film community to offer support for people in their homeland who are under attack.
Sahraa Karimi, the Afghan Film Organization’s first female president, spoke with DW at the Venice International Film Festival, where she has come to promote awareness and ensure that the world does not forget her country and people.
Karimi was working on her second feature film, a follow-up to her social drama Hava, Maryam, Ayesha, which premiered in Venice in 2019. Before the Taliban conquered Kabul on August 15, effectively seizing control of the entire country, she was busy working on her second feature film, a follow-up to her social drama Hava, Maryam, Ayesha, which premiered in Venice in 2019. She was also in charge of the Afghan Film Organization, which was working on features, documentaries, and various short films in order to resurrect the country’s film industry.
From 1996 through 2001, the Taliban outlawed all types of cinema, as well as all other forms of art.
