Meet Sahraa Karimi: Afghan Filmmaker's Video Capturing Taliban Takeover Goes Viral

Who is Sahraa Karimi: One of Afghanistan's most prominent women filmmakers was seen running on the street in Kabul in a viral video, following the Taliban insurgents' attack in the city. Amidst the rapidly changing situation in Afghanistan, on Sunday, filmmaker Sahraa Karimi documented the situation and posted a video social media, which captures her fleeing to the Kabul airport as she scrambles to reach the capital's last remaining exits. In the video, she was able to capture what exactly happened in Kabul as the Taliban entered the Afghan capital.

In the video, Karimi can be seen running as chaos breaks out on the street of Kabul while describing the things that were happening around. "This is not a clip from a scary movie," Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad wrote sharing the video on Twitter, "This is the reality in Kabul." The video went viral in no time. Karimi later said that she went to a bank to get some money, but it was closed and being evacuated. "They are coming to kill us," the Afghan filmmaker wrote on Twitter calling for help. Her earlier message, posted a few days ago, in which she had talked about the atrocities faced by the people of Afghanistan, especially women and girls, also went viral. More here.

Taliban surrounded Kabul, I were to bank to get some money, they closed and evacuated;

I still cannot believe this happened, who did happen.

Please pray for us, I am calling again:

Hey ppl of the this big world, please do not be silent , they are coming to kill us. pic.twitter.com/wIytLL3ZNu

— Sahraa Karimi/ صحرا كريمي (@sahraakarimi) August 15, 2021

Karimi wrote in the statement that if the Taliban take over they will ban all art. Claiming that they have already  "massacred our people", she sent the appeal to global media organisations on August 13 and it subsequently circulated on social media as the Taliban marched on to gain absolute control of the nation. In her letter  Karimi accused the Taliban of kidnapping many children, procuring girls as child brides for its soldiers, murdering a woman for her attire and more.

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

Who is Sahraa Karimi?

Sahraa Karimi, a prominent woman filmmaker from Afghanistan. She was the first woman to be appointed as the director-general of state-run Afghan Film. She has primarily made documentary films. Her last film as a director was Hava, Maryam, Ayesha, a feature on pregnancy and abortion in Afghanistan, which screened at Venice in 2019. She also made films like Parlika and Afghan Women Behind the Wheel (2009).

Karimi is the first and only woman in Afghanistan to hold a PhD in cinema. She has called for support from cinema communities around the world as her country falls to the Taliban insurgency. Several filmmakers tweeted their support of Karim including Indian filmmakers Leena Manimekalai and Anurag Kashyap, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, and Northern Irish director Mark Cousins.

Feature Image Credit: Sahraa Karimi/Instagram