INSIDE KABUL + FATHERLAND

Inside Kabul

Caroline Gillet, Denis Walgenwitz / France, Denmark / 2023 / 30 min

Simple and beautifully animated audio diary about two Afghan women’s very different choices and reactions when the Taliban reentered Afghanistan and ruled the country and its people – told by the two women themselves.

Afghan friends Marwa and Raha grew up in Kabul. Often they have listened to their parents’ stories about the time in the 1990s when Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban. They were stories of conditions they thought would never return. But in 2021, the country fell back into Taliban hands. Raha decided to stay in the country, while Marwa chose to leave. ‘Inside Kabul’ is the elegantly animated story of what happened next to Marwa and Raha, and what each of them had to go through. Told by the two women themselves through the voice messages they continuously and alternately sent to the radio journalist who is also the film’s director. A beautifully animated audio diary, about two very different choices created by the same situation.

Fatherland

Benjamin Kodboel / Denmark, United Kingdom / 2022 / 19 min / International Premiere

Touching and hopeful immigration film about a grieving Syrian father and his three sons’ quiet struggle not to be deported from Denmark and scattered to all sorts of other countries.

Mesbah Msheelm and his three sons have lost their residence permits and now the father fears they will either be sent back to Syria or scattered in various other countries. But amidst the grief of recently losing his wife to cancer, Mesbah – with the heartfelt support of the local community – finds the energy to appeal the ruling and fight for the family to be allowed to stay in Denmark. ‘Fatherland’ is a touching and hopeful film about the sharp edges of the immigration system and about a father who dares not share his doubts, anxieties and pain with others and instead shares it with the camera.