The Taliban overthrew the elected government after regrouping in the decades that followed their expulsion from the invasion that followed the attacks of September 11, 2001, and feeling empowered by the agreed-upon withdrawal of the last of the US forces.
While hundreds had departed, some, including German-based Egyptian journalist and filmmaker Ibrahim Nash’at, have been attempting to enter the nation.
After a great deal of effort, Nash’at was able to secure authorization to spend up to a year in Afghanistan filming mostly with Malawi Mansour, the country’s recently appointed Commander of the Air Force, and MJ Mukhtar, a young Talib lieutenant who plays a dream sequence in the movie.
Three years after the Taliban retook power, the outcome is the documentary Hollywoodgate, which gets its name from the defunct CIA military facility where most of the filming was done.
However, in attempting to narrate the story of the nation’s new age, Nash’at discovered himself in an uneasy and frequently tense situation with a new administration that had made a name for itself during its first term in office for execution and repression.
In front of Nash’at, an unidentified Taliban military man says to Mukhtar, “That little devil is filming.” “I really hope he doesn’t embarrass us in front of China.
