‘That devil is filming again’: Hollywoodgate director’s year with the Taliban

Ibrahim Nash’at succeeded in getting permission to film with the Taliban for a year.

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Having regrouped in the decades after being driven out by the invasion that followed the 11 September attacks, and emboldened by the agreed withdrawal of the remaining US forces, the Taliban deposed the elected government.

But while thousands left, some had been trying to get into the country – including Ibrahim Nash’at, an Egyptian journalist and film-maker based in Germany.

After much persistence, Nash’at succeeded in getting permission to stay in Afghanistan for up to a year to film primarily with the country’s then newly appointed Commander of the Air Force, Malawi Mansour, along with a young Talib lieutenant, MJ Mukhtar, who in the film dreams of joining the air force and longs to avenge himself against the Americans.

Now, three years on from the Taliban’s return to power, the result is the documentary Hollywoodgate, named after the abandoned CIA military base where much of the filming took place.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0l81rykd55o

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