"But also, there are no films being made about Afghanistan"

Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s observation touches on the absence and invisibility of Afghanistan within the global cinematic landscape. Beyond its surface, the statement is both a lament and a critical diagnosis of a deeper issue: a culture, history, and set of realities are going unrecorded, unexamined, and unheard on screen. In the world of film, stories become bridges to empathy, understanding, and historical memory. When films about Afghanistan are not being made, the country and its people risk being reduced to stereotypes, relegated to the margins, or, worse, forgotten altogether.

The lack of films centered around Afghanistan is not just an artistic gap but also a symptom of various intersecting challenges: political instability, censorship, lack of resources, and sometimes even global indifference. Too often, narratives about Afghanistan in global media focus narrowly on conflict, war, or humanitarian crises, rarely delving into the everyday lives, dreams, and resilience of its people. Such omissions compound isolation, reinforcing a one-dimensional perception that does not do justice to the country’s complexity or its rich cultural history.

Makhmalbaf’s words also evoke questions about agency and voice. Who gets to tell stories? Whose perspective counts? The absence he describes points to a larger issue of representational imbalance in global filmmaking, where power, funding, and distribution tend to flow towards stories deemed commercially viable or politically convenient. As a result, entire populations may never see their realities meaningfully reflected. The silence is both literal and metaphorical, a void in which a nation’s joys, struggles, humor, and humanity are overlooked.

Ultimately, the call is for awareness: recognizing that the stories not being told are just as significant as the ones that dominate our screens. Only by supporting the creation and dissemination of films from underrepresented places like Afghanistan can the world nurture a truly inclusive and empathetic cultural imagination.