Unreported World S13E03 · Afghanistan: Lights, Camera, Death Threats

Overview

The team begin their journey on set with Saba Sahar - an actress, screenwriter and Afghanistan's first female film director. In a country where few women work at all, Saba is directing her sixth production - a TV series about the Afghan police force. The only woman on set, Saba has complete authority, even over the real policemen who are acting as her extras. As well as directing, Saba is playing the heroine, who's a female cop succeeding in a man's world. Saba's high-profile job is provoking some of the most dangerous people in the country. The drug lords and the Taliban have threatened her life. 'Each morning when I leave the house I think I'll never see my family again. I might be killed,' she tells Kleeman. Kleeman and Lang meet Salim Shaheen, Afghanistan's most prolific film director. He's directed and starred in over 100 low-budget, high-octane movies over three decades. With a large fan base, Salim has a huge influence on ordinary Afghans. He takes Kleeman on to the film set where he's in the middle of directing a fight scene. Salim fears the departure of foreign troops from Afghanistan could mean the end of his career. 'There's going to be a civil war here,' he warns. 'If the Taliban come back, films will be banned. I'll have to leave the country.' Like Saba Sahar, Salim's life has been threatened. 'Every second we are under threat,' he tells Kleeman. 'Every minute our lives are in danger.' The team meets a Taliban fighter. He tells Kleeman that cinema goes against their interpretation of Sharia law and should be outlawed. He has a warning for Salim and Saba: 'They should be told that what they are doing is wrong first,' he says. 'If that doesn't stop them, we will punish them according to Sharia law.' The punishment, he says, is death. Everyone the team meets is convinced the Taliban will soon be back in power, and Afghanistan will soon return to fundamentalism. But Kabul's DVD bazaars are booming. Salim takes Kleeman into a market where one trader says he sells up to 1400 copies of a newly released film per day. There's a huge appetite for home-grown cinema. Salim and Saba have already paid a high price for making films: Saba has been rejected by her wider family, and Salim lost eight crew members in a rocket attack on one of his sets. He shows Kleeman footage of the aftermath. 'I'll continue in their name,' he says. 'I'm prepared to sacrifice myself. I'll never give up making films.' Salim and Saba have more sacrifices ahead: the Taliban want them to suffer for believing in the freedoms promised by the west.

Torrents

Subtitles

Episodes

1. 1 1. Terror in Sudan2012-04-13As George Clooney campaigns against the atrocities being committed in Sudan, Unreported World has filmed extensive documentary footage from the war zone. Aidan Hartley and Daniel
2. 2 2. Baghdad Bomb Squad2012-04-20nreported World gains unprecedented and exclusive access to the Baghdad Bomb Squad. Nine years after the invasion and with the British and the Americans gone, Iraq still faces almo
3. 3 3. Afghanistan: Lights, Camera, Death Threats2012-04-27The team begin their journey on set with Saba Sahar - an actress, screenwriter and Afghanistan's first female film director. In a country where few women work at all, Saba is direc
4. 4 4. Congo: Magic, Gangs & Wrestlers2012-05-11Wrestlers are superstars in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this vast and troubled country, wrestling is a passion, allowing fans to forget the poverty, violence and ongoing c
5. 5 5. Ukraine: The Teenagers Who Live Underground2012-05-18UNICEF estimates that there may be as many as 100,000 street children in Ukraine. Marcel Theroux and Suemay Oram go underground in Kiev to meet some and find out what their life is
6. 6 6. The Monkey Business2012-05-25In Cameroon there are fears that the practice of eating bushmeat - wild meat hunted in the rainforest, including endangered gorillas and chimpanzees - could trigger a new global pa
7. 7 7. Libya: My Week with Gunmen2012-06-01Six months after its revolution, Libya is still riven by factionalism, militias and violence, as the armed groups who overthrew Colonel Gaddafi cling to territory and power. Tripo
8. 8 8. Honduras: The Lost Girls2012-06-08Honduras: The Lost Girls. Ramita Navai and Talya Tibbon investigate the disappearance of hundreds of young Honduran women who have been enticed over the Mexican border and forced i
9. 9 9. USA: Talk Radio Nation2012-11-02In the run-up to the 2012 US election, Krishnan Guru-Murthy meets the talk-radio hosts broadcasting to a country more polarised than ever before.
10. 10 10. Indonesia's Tobacco Children2012-11-09Indonesia is in the grip of a smoking epidemic with the proportion of child smokers rising dramatically. And Unreported World reveals how young children are risking their health fu
11. 11 11. Dominican Republic: Baseball Dreams2012-11-16The Dominican Republic provides almost 20% of professional baseball players in the United States. In a country where many are very poor, the sport is one of the few routes out for
12. 12 12. The Master Chef of Mogadishu2012-11-23Mogadishu is one of the most dangerous cities on earth. Unreported World meets the remarkable British Somali man who has mortgaged his life in London and left his family behind to
13. 13 13. Mumbai's Party Police2012-11-30Young clubbers in Mumbai are being arrested, assaulted and accused of being prostitutes in a police crackdown on the city's nightlife. Reporter Jenny Kleeman and director Alex Nott
14. 14 14. Egypt: Sex, Mobs and Revolution2012-12-07Unreported World examines the increase in sexual assaults and harassment in Egypt. The programme reveals claims that young men are being paid to carry out horrendous mob attacks on
15. 15 15. Russia's Radical Chic2012-12-14Glamorous young Russian socialite Ksenia Sobchak has swapped high-profile TV stardom for a life leading political protest against President Putin, who also happens to be a close fa
16. 16 16. Burma: The Village that Took on the Generals2012-12-21Unreported World meets the Burmese villagers fighting for their ancestral lands as foreign investors flood in to a nation rich in undeveloped resources. After 50 years of military