‘Camera, action!’ ‘You could have brought their daughter with
you!’ ‘If you say it again, then I will cut you
in two.’ ‘The name of the film is ‘unfaith’ and
it is about corruption, land usurpation, mafia and other problems in Nangarhar province.
I am the main character. My name in the film is Iman (faith).
‘My clothes look strange now, but when people watch the film, they understand what kind
of role I am playing. In this movie I am someone who just works
for money. I have no family and I am a member of a mafia gang. At the end, slowly by slowly,
I become a good man. ‘When he attacks, you should be there, look…
you attack, you load your pistol from here. Move your hand forward. Your hand should be
free and you will not tease him. Load your pistol, as you get close.’
I have played in around fifteen movies and directed all of them. I have acted as the
main character in twelve films, including Afghan and Pakistani movies.
‘Our main problem is that Pakistani film companies are producing films in Pashto, and
the quality is poor. They show the Pashtun culture as if all Pashtun
people are warlords. They do not show the real Pashtun culture, this is our biggest
problem. ‘ ‘Cinema is like steel. With steel, people
make weapons and kill other people. People also make stethoscopes from steel to help
other people. That’s why I came to the cinema and decided
to serve my people, to heal the pain of the people through it.
‘I have been involved in different roles, I have worked in thirty movies and more then
fifteen TV series.’ We have started Afghan cinema from zero and
we have achieved great results, but day by day it is falling back down to zero because
of the officials that are working in this industry. These officials are not helping
us; they don’t care about their people and their culture.’
‘I own an independent production company called Boraq Film, and our aim is to make
movies and documentaries that are close to our society.
We are trying to show what is wrong with our culture.
We need peace, we need security, reconstruction, we need to show these problems to
the world and try to solve them. Also, one of the biggest problems in Afghanistan
is that we don’t have a good market for our movies.
We are taking our movies to Kabul, we talk with cinema owners but unfortunately they
disregard us. So we think ‘let’s forget about theatres’. We can’t recoup the money
we have invested in our movies. When I started to make cinema, people were
making fun of me. But now I see the difference between the past and the present.
People have changed now and they are very interested in watching Afghan films.’
