Synopsis
When the United States withdrew from its twenty-year 'forever war' in Afghanistan, the Taliban retook control of the ravaged country and immediately found an American base loaded with weaponry—a portion of the over $7 billion in U.S. armaments still in the country. Unprecedented and audacious, director Ibrahim Nash’at’s HOLLYWOODGATE spends a year inside Afghanistan following the Taliban as they take possession of the cache America left behind—and transform from a fundamentalist militia into a heavily armed military regime.
Golden Eye Jury statement:
HOLLYWOODGATE is the portrait of two Taliban military men, the head of the Taliban airforce and a lieutenant. The director Ibrahim Nash’at flew into Afghanistan risking his life two days after the US it’s allies evacuated the country. In succeeding to win the trust of his two main subjects and following them around for one year, he exposes a shocking world that is otherwise inaccessible. As an audience it is a privilege to become first hand witnesses to the process of the Taliban establishing their regime. Despite the restrictions placed upon him Ibrahim Nash’at, also manages to inform us about the world he wasn’t allowed to catch on camera and what this regime means to the whole country, especially women and girls.
