The Forbidden Reel

synopsis

Driven to create amidst war and chaos, Afghan filmmakers gave birth to an extraordinary national cinema. Driven to destroy, Taliban extremists set out to torch that legacy. Marvelling in the beauty and fragile power of movies, Afghan-Canadian director Ariel Nasr crafts a thrilling and utterly original story of modern Afghanistan.

about the director

Ariel Nasr is an English-Language Producer in the National Film Board’s Quebec Atlantic Studio. Previous to joining the NFB, Ariel directed and co-produced the award-winning film, The Forbidden Reel, a feature documentary drawing on thousands of hours of film archives to trace the second half of the twentieth century through the lens of Afghan filmmakers (IDFA, Hot Docs). Producer of the Academy Award-nominated independent short drama Buzkashi Boys (2012), Nasr’s directing credits include the Canadian Screen Award-winning, The Boxing Girls of Kabul (2011) as well as Good Morning Kandahar (2008), and the interactive documentary, Kabul Portraits (2015). Other recent work includes his documentary, La Mosquée, which documents the aftermath of the Quebec City Mosque Shooting. A citizen of Canada, Afghanistan and the USA, Ariel lives and works in Montreal.