Art And Cinema At Risk In Taliban-led Afghanistan? 10 Things Afghan Filmmaker Said In Her Letter

Afghan Filmmaker open letter: Numerous women in Afghanistan – from filmmakers, photographers to homemakers – have taken to social media to express fears about their futures under Taliban rule and appealed for help. "If the Taliban take over they will ban all art," wrote Sahraa Karimi, an Afghan filmmaker, in an open letter that was sent to global media organisations on August 13. Karimi is one of the strongest voices emerging from Afghanistan raising concern over well-being of women and girls. Her open letter, in fact, also highlights the threats to lifestyle of Afghan people under Taliban rule.

To All the #Film_Communities in The World and Who Loves Film and Cinema!

I write to you with a broken heart and a deep hope that you can join me in protecting my beautiful people, especially filmmakers from the Taliban. #Share it please, don't be #silent. pic.twitter.com/4FjW6deKUi

— Sahraa Karimi/ صحرا كريمي (@sahraakarimi) August 13, 2021

Karimi is the first and only Afghan woman with a PhD in cinema. She was the first woman to be appointed as the director-general of state-run Afghan Film. Recently a video by the filmmaker, in which she is seen making an attempt to flee from Kabul as it is captured by Taliban, went viral on social media.

Here are ten significant things the filmmaker said in the letter and why it should matter:

1. The director of the award-winning films Hava, Maryam, Ayesha in an open appeal on social media wrote if the Taliban take over they will ban all art. I and other filmmakers could be next on their hit list."

2. Claiming that they have already  “massacred our people”, Karimi accused the Taliban of kidnapping many children, procuring girls as child brides for its soldiers, murdering a woman for her attire. She also gave examples from the past when they carried out public executions, chopping off the hands of thieves and stoning women accused of adultery.

3. Karimi's passionate plea reveals the horrors the Taliban inflicted upon the people. She indicated that the fighters, in the name of strict Islamic Sharia law even gouge out the eyes of women who do not wear the "right" clothes and assassinate members of the government. They also notably tortured and killed the head of media and culture, as well as one of the beloved comedians, a historian and a poet in Afghanistan.

4. Karimi says they displaced hundreds of thousands of families, who are now living in unsanitary conditions in Kabul. She spoke about the children dying due to lack of milk, adding, "It is a humanitarian crisis, and yet the world is silent." Read who is Sahraa Karimi here.

5. Karimi, who has now gone incommunicado, also spotlighted the current state of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US troops.  She said America's decision to "abandon" her people is wrong and that this sudden move is a betrayal of the people and all that they did when Afghans won the Cold War for the west. The filmmaker writes that the Afghan people were "forgotten" during the militant group's "dark rule" that began in 1996.

6. She called for support from cinema communities around the world as her country falls to the Taliban insurgency, pointing out that the peace talks had only emboldened them to step up their war against the government of Afghanistan They intend to brutalise the people, according to the filmmaker.

7. Warning further she recalled about the time when the Taliban first ruled Afghanistan in 1996 and noted that the "immense gains" made especially by the younger generation over the last subsequent two decades "could be lost again" because of "this abandonment".

8. When the Taliban were in power, zero girls were in school, Karimi wrote, mentioning that since then there are over nine million Afghan girls in school. Talking about Herat, the third-largest city which fell to the Taliban, she noted that it had nearly 50 percent women in its university. These are incredible gains that the world hardly knows about," Karimi added claiming that just in these few weeks, the Taliban have destroyed many schools and two million girls are forced now out of school again.

9. "If the Taliban take over Kabul, we may not have access to the internet or any communication tool at all," she wrote, highlighting what Taliban rule could mean the end of Afghanistan’s creative community and its women.

10. Karimi ended her open letter with an appeal to the world to stand behind people like her who will "stay and fight for my country". But she fears (but hopes against) the world "turn its back on us?”

Several filmmakers tweeted their support of Karimi including Indian filmmakers Leena Manimekalai and Anurag Kashyap, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, and Northern Irish director Mark Cousins.

Feature Image Credit: Sahraa Karimi/Instagram

Suggested Reads For You: 

All About Yalda Hakim: The Journalist Who Received Call From Taliban On Live TV

"She Was Willing To Get Shot To Read" Twitter Backs Malala After Her Afghanistan Plea

CNN’s Clarissa Ward Dons Hijab On Afghan Streets Under Taliban. But Why The Trolling?