In
Venice,
far
from
Kabul
and
the
Taliban,
Afghan
directors
are
calling
on
the
international
film
community
to
show
solidarity
with
those
under
threat
in
their
native
country.
Sahraa
Karimi,
the
first
female
president
of
the
Afghan
Film
Organization,
spoke
with
DW
at
the
Venice
International
Film
Festival
2021,
where
she
has
come
to
raise
the
alarm
and
to
make
sure
the
world
does
not
forget
her
country
and
her
people.
Before
the
Taliban
conquered
the
Afghan
capital
of
Kabul
on
August
15,
2021,
effectively
seizing
control
of
the
entire
country,
Karimi
was
busy
on
her
second
feature
film,
a
follow-up
to
her
social
drama
Hava,
Maryam,
Ayesha,
which
premiered
in
Venice
in
2019.
She
was
also
overseeing
the
entire
Afghan
Film
Organization,
which
had
features,
documentaries
and
several
short
films
in
production
as
it
tried
to
rebuild
a
movie
industry
in
the
country.
Under
the
Taliban's
rule
from
1996-2001,
all
cinema,
like
all
forms
of
art,
were
banned.
"Just
imagine,
I
was
in
the
middle
of
production
on
my
second
film," Karimi
told
DW
about
her
experiences
on
August
15
when
the
Taliban
entered
Kabul.
"It
was
a
normal,
ordinary
day.
Everything
was
normal.
And
then,
within
a
few
hours,
everything
collapsed."
A
Difficult
Journey
Karimi
made
a
harrowing
escape,
running
through
the
streets
of
Kabul
to
get
home,
gather
her
family
and
try
to
make
it
to
the
airport
to
fly
out
of
the
country.
But
their
flight
was
cancelled.
With
the
help
of
the
Slovakian,
Turkish,
and
Ukrainian
government
-
Karimi,
who
studied
cinema
in
Bratislava,
holds
Slovak
citizenship
-
she
was
able
to
get
out
on
August
17,
taking
a
Turkish
airlines
flight
from
Kabul
to
Istanbul
and
then
to
Kyiv.
Karimi
is
now
planning
to
turn
her
experience
into
a
fiction
film.
"I'm
a
filmmaker.
The
only
way,
at
least
for
a
while,
to
forget
this
trauma
that
I
experienced
is
to
write
it
and
to
make
it
into
a
film," she
said,
adding
that
she
hopes
her
story
will
give
a
different
perspective
on
the
events
than
seen
in
the
news
media.
"People
only
saw
the
bigger
story,
of
the
crowds.
But
there
were
many
individual
stories
in
those
crowds,
stories
I
saw
myself,
that
I
experienced," Karimi
said.
"The
response
of
the
American
army,
which
was
very
bad,
the
desperation
of
people
who
grabbed
the
wheel
of
airplanes
as
they
tried
to
lift
off.
I
will
tell
their
stories.
My
film
will
look
at
what
happened
from
different
sides."
The
Power
Of
The
International
Film
Community
But
Karimi
isn't
in
Venice
just
to
tell
her
story.
In
a
panel
discussion
on
Afghanistan
here
on
August
5,
she
and
Afghan
documentary
filmmaker
Sahra
Mani
called
for
action
from
the
international
film
community.
Karimi
wants
international
film
organizations,
including
the
European
Film
Academy,
to
pressure
national
governments
to
create
humanitarian
corridors
to
help
get
artists
and
others
who
want
to
leave
out
of
the
country,
as
well
as
a
guarantee
that
they
will
be
granted
the
status
of
political
refugees.
"The
international
film
community
doesn't
realize
the
power
they
have," she
told
DW.
"People
love
actors
and
actresses
and
filmmakers.
People
love
cinema.
They
can
be
very
strong
voices
for
solidarity
with
Afghan
filmmakers
and
Afghanistan.
If
they
decide
to
be
the
voice
for
Afghanistan
and
to
protect
Afghanistan
-
Afghan
women,
Afghan
filmmakers
-
it
will
work."
Karimi
praised
countries
like
the
Ukraine,
which
have
stepped
up
to
grant
escaping
Afghans
visas
and
travel
documents.
She
called
out
other
European
countries,
including
Germany,
which
have
been
more
hesitant.
"What
happened
in
Afghanistan
happened.
There
are
a
lot
of
refugees,
not
just
filmmakers
and
artists
but
other
refugees.
I
think
countries
like
Germany
should
show
solidarity
with
these
people,
especially
with
artists
and
filmmakers.
They
should
not
just
ignore
them
(but)
accept
them,"
she
said.
"They
do
not
need
to
be
afraid.
Artists
and
filmmakers
integrate
easily
into
a
society
and
they
bring
with
them
their
creativity,
their
stories,
which
can
enrich
the
culture
of
their
new
country."
Photo
and
Text
courtesy
of
DW
News