New York- This is a powerful new short film from New Zealand-based colleague and filmmaker Phil Stebbing about the plight of Farid, a former member of Afghanistan’s democratic government currently on the run from the country’s Taliban rulers. He lives in very real fear of being discovered by the men once again ruling his country who seek revenge on anyone involved in Afghanistan’s nearly two decade-long failed, externally imposed democratic experiment.
The world abandoned Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 as did many Afghans who were able as the country’s former regime rapidly retook power. There were heroic tales at the time of benevolent Westerners who moved mountains to extricate former Afghan colleagues. This is a darker story of one of those Afghans left behind. Still alive, still desperate. Both chilling and moving, this film shines a light on perhaps the most gripping yet fully preventable humanitarian failure of our time.