The incredible story of Afghanistan’s fearless and visionary filmmakers—and the films we almost never got to see.

Nothing about the bullet-scarred building indicates the astonishing story that unfolded within the walls of Afghan Film. It was here in the '70s and '80s that an impassioned clique of filmmakers, often working across enemy lines, gave birth to a progressive national cinema amidst war and chaos. It was here, in an episode worthy of a spy thriller, that a network of cinephiles conspired to protect this precious legacy from the extremists who destroyed the great Buddhas of Bamiyan.

Afghan-Canadian director Ariel Nasr brings this epic history to shimmering life, juxtaposing insider testimony from “Engineer” Latif Ahmadi, Siddiq Barmak, and other key players with freshly restored images from Afghan Film’s extraordinary archive. Marveling in all the mysterious and fragile power of movies, he crafts a visually absorbing and utterly original story of modern Afghanistan.