Afghanistan's precious feature films and newsreels were saved from destruction when a Taliban official secretly worked with dedicated Afghan archivists to hide the country's cinema legacy from extremists, saving them from being burnt to ashes. The Forbidden Reel showcases these precious cultural works, introducing them to a new generation of viewers.
Afghan Films is Afghanistan's public film producer, and started created newsreels and documentaries in 1968. There are nearly fifty full-length feature films in the archive. The oldest films in the archive comes from a previous era: the first decades of the Twentieth Century, when cameramen would follow Afghanistan's Kings to official events and meetings. The height of film production in Afghanistan came during the 1980s, when Soviet funding allowed for the production of up to six films per year. Today, young Afghan filmmakers are leading a renaissance in film production.
While most of the film is edited from unseen archival materials drawn from thousands of hours of historical films, which now reside in Afghanistan's National Archive, recreations were shot in Afghanistan on 16mm film, using original equipment from the Afghan Films production house. Actors include employees of Afghan Films and their children.