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What We Left Unfinished

Utterly unique in film history, Mariam Ghani's archival marvel is a probing and engrossing case study in censorship, authoritarianism, and political art. Thirty years after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent civil war, during a new era of political uncertainty for the embattled nation, the film looks closely at the era of state-funded Afghan filmmaking during the country’s Communist era, bringing together writers, actors, and filmmakers to discuss five unfinished, unedited projects produced from 1978-1991. The studio politics and mishaps that accompany any film’s production here rise to the level of life-and-death conflict, as filmmakers recall coming up against the censorship of an authoritarian government, as well as unceasing threats of violence. The film raises potent, eternally relevant questions about what happens when the truth becomes a bargaining chip.