The Forbidden Reel

Mar 3, 2020

2h 1m

★ 8.0

Overview

According to the official history of Afghanistan, ruthless destruction has always prevailed over art and creation; but there is another tale to be told, the forgotten account of a diverse and progressive country, seen through the lens of innovative filmmakers, a story that survives thanks to a few brave Afghans, a small but very passionate group that secretly fought to save a huge film archive that was constantly menaced by war and religious fanaticism.

Genres

Documentary

History

Production Companies

Loaded Pictures

ONF | NFB

TVO

Al Jazeera English

The Forbidden Reel Trailers

Cast

Child Siddiq

Ahmed Zahed

Projectionist

Adbul Rasool Khalaqi

Soviet Spy #1

Hamsafar Azam

Soviet Spy #2

Khaled Aziz

Afghan Films President

Mohamad Yaqood

Taliban #1

Farooq Ghulam Baraki

Taliban #2

Jamil Dakohai

Taliban #3

Safiulla Sadiqi

Taliban #4

Zakarya Amin

Siddiq's Mother

Koko Gul

Self - Filmmaker

Ibrahim Arify

Self - Former Taliban Official

Isaaq Nezami

Three stories told simultaneously in ninety minutes of real time: a Republican Senator who's a presidential hopeful gives an hour-long interview to a skeptical television reporter, detailing a strategy for victory in Afghanistan; two special forces ambushed on an Afghani ridge await rescue as Taliban forces close in; a poli-sci professor at a California college invites a student to re-engage.

6.5

Hitler's Hollywood

Feb 23, 2017

Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1933, when the Nazis came into power, until 1945, when the Third Reich collapsed. (A sequel to From Caligari to Hitler, 2015.)

7.2

Babenco: Tell Me When I Die

Nov 26, 2020

Besieged by cancer and nearing the end, the genius Argentine-Brazilian filmmaker Héctor Babenco (1946-2016) asks Bárbara Paz, his wife, for one last wish: to be the protagonist of his own death.

6.7

Andrey Tarkovsky. A Cinema Prayer

Oct 17, 2019

An account of the life and work of Russian filmmaker Andrey Tarkovsky (1932-86) in his own words: his memories, his vision of art and his reflections on the fate of the artist and the meaning of human existence; through extremely rare audio recordings that allow a complete understanding of his inner life and the mysterious world existing behind his complex cinematic imagery.

7.0

Fulci Talks

Mar 8, 2021

Rome, Italy, June 1993. Antonietta De Lillo and Marcello Garofalo interview legendary Italian film director Lucio Fulci (1927-96).

6.5

Straight to VHS

Mar 25, 2021

Act of Violence Upon a Young Journalist is a film shot in 1988 and released on VHS in 1989; a mysterious cult work of Uruguayan cinema surrounded by strange theories about Manuel Lamas, its unknown creator. Until now.

8.0

Le Polygone, un secret d'État

Oct 12, 2024

No overview available.

6.0

Time in the Sun

Sep 30, 1940

Second attempt to create a feature film out of the 200,000-plus feet of film which Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein shot during 1931-32 in Mexico for American socialist author Upton Sinclair, his wife and a small company of investors. The projected film, to be called "Que Viva Mexico", was never completed due to exhaustion of funds and Stalin's demand that Eisenstein return to the USSR (he had been absent since 1929). The first attempt at editing the footage, in the USA, resulted in "Thunder Over Mexico", released in 1934. In 1940, Marie Seton, from the UK, acquired some of the footage from the Sinclairs in an attempt to make a better cutting according to Eisenstein's skeletal outline for the proposed film. This film has apparently been lost.

No Image

0.0

Requiem za W. A. Mozarta

Dec 15, 1991

No overview available.

6.7

Robert Redford: The Golden Look

Jul 28, 2019

More than anyone in the cynical film industry, legendary artist Robert Redford embodies the United States' brightest side: perseverance, independence, idealism, and integrity. A champion of active environmentalism and the right to openly criticize any institutional abuse, he has put his artistic work at the service of his political commitments, whether as an actor, director, producer, or founder of the Sundance Festival, a formidable forum for his struggles since 1985.

0.0

Escape to Paradise/Water Birds

Dec 18, 1960

A behind-the-scenes show on the filming of Swiss Family Robinson on the West Indian island of Tobago. Then the True Life Adventure Water Birds.

No Image

0.0

This Is Not a Dream

Oct 20, 2012

The video revolution of the 1970s offered unprecedented access to the moving image for artists and performers. This Is Not a Dream explores the legacies of this revolution and its continued impact on contemporary art and performance. Charting a path across four decades of avant-garde experiment and radical escapism, This Is Not a Dream traces the influences of Andy Warhol, John Waters and Jack Smith to the perverted frontiers of YouTube and Chatroulette, taking in subverted talk shows and soap operas, streetwalker fashions and glittery magic penises along the way.

8.7

Writing Hawa

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Afghan documentary maker Najiba Noori offers not only a loving and intimate portrait of her mother Hawa, but also shows in detail how the arduous improvement of the position of women is undone by geopolitical violence. The film follows the fortunes of Noori’s family, who belong to the Hazaras, an ethnic group that has suffered greatly from discrimination and persecution.

7.3

Kabul 24

Oct 9, 2009

In the summer of 2001 the Taliban strategically captured 24 Shelter Now International Aid hostages that captured the attention of the world for more than three months. With representatives from the United States, Australia, Germany and Afghanistan, the Taliban set out to create an insurance policy against the pending attacks of September 11th. What transpired through their story was an overwhelming journey of faith, grace and endurance. Based on the true story as told by the captives, Kabul 24 captures the gantlet of their 105 days in captivity and the cruel treatment of the Muslim co-workers at the hands of the Taliban who accused them of converting to Christianity. Revisit their journey from the grueling interrogation to their sham "trial" before the Taliban Supreme Court, to the dangers endured during the bombing of Kabul and a crushing sense that the world had abandoned them.

7.5

Grizzly Man

Aug 12, 2005

Follows the story of "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in his attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

8.0

De Arm Van Jezus

Jan 24, 2003

Jakob Yzermans is an American salesman looking for his roots in Rotterdam. He thinks his father (Hendrik Yzermans) has left Holland with the money he took from his collegues. Jakob is trying to get the money together to repay the money. While doing so he encounters more and more problems.

6.3

Columbus DNA: His True Origin

Oct 10, 2024

One of the most important and exciting historical research of all time, the study of the DNA of the navigator Christopher Columbus, finally answers two fundamental questions: where do his bones rest? What is his true origin?

6.4

Once More Unto the Breach

Oct 10, 2019

July, 1941. After the beginning of the German invasion, an Italian soldier, a veteran of the colonial wars, is sent to the Soviet front. As he remembers the fairy tales his Russian mother used to tell him, the train he is travelling in crosses Europe on its way to the vast Ukrainian plains, where the enemy and a cruel winter await him… (Based on the experiences of several Italian soldiers.)

7.6

Mafia Is Not What It Used to Be

Sep 12, 2019

Palermo, Sicily, Italy, 2017. Twenty-five years after the murders of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone, on May 23, 1992, and Paolo Borsellino, on July 19, 1992; and on the occasion of the tributes held in memory of both heroes, skeptical photographer Letizia Battaglia, chronicler of their titanic combat, criticizes the opportunism of shady characters who, like businessman Ciccio Mira, profit from the commemoration of both tragedies.

6.8

Against the Law

Mar 16, 2017

United Kingdom, March 24, 1954. Ten years before the decriminalization of homosexuality, journalist Peter Wildeblood and his friends Lord Montagu and Michael Pitt-Rivers are convicted and imprisoned for indecency and sodomy.