Afghan filmmakers at Venice fear loss of identity, culture

Afghan female filmmakers who fled the Taliban are begging the world to not forget the Afghan people and to support its artists

VENICE -- Afghan female filmmakers who fled the Taliban begged the world to not forget the Afghan people and to support its artists, warning Saturday that a country without culture will eventually lose its identity. The Venice Film Festival organized a panel discussion Saturday to give a platform to Sahraa Karimi, the first female president of the Afghan Film Organization, and documentary filmmaker Sahra Mani, who is presenting a project at the Venice film market fair. Karimi choked up while telling reporters about her own escape — in which she had just hours to decide whether to stay or leave — and all that had been lost after the Taliban completed their takeover of the country. She cited numerous films that were in pre-and-post production, filmmaking workshops that had been organized, insurance policies negotiated for equipment, and said that Afghan directors were increasingly being welcomed at international film festivals. Karimi herself had presented a film at the Venice Film Festival in 2019.