5 Best Movies from Afghanistan to Watch First

5 Essential Films from Afghanistan

Ranked native cinema in Afghanistan’s own creative voice.

1. 

   1. Osama

   2004

   Under Taliban rule in Kabul, where women are barred from working or moving about freely, a family left without any men faces destitution. To survive, a preteen girl is disguised as a boy and sent out to earn a living under the name Osama. Shot soon after the regime's fall, it was the first film made in Afghanistan after the Taliban's ban on cinema.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: A Dari/Pashto Afghan drama about life under the Taliban and the first Afghan film after the fall of the Taliban regime.

2. 

   2. Hava, Maryam, Ayesha

   حوا، مریم، عایشه · 2019

   In Kabul, three pregnant women from very different walks of life each face a private crisis: a neglected traditional wife, a TV reporter on the brink of divorce, and a frightened teenager hiding an unwanted pregnancy. Their interwoven stories form an intimate portrait of womanhood in contemporary Afghanistan.

3. 

   3. The Orphanage

   پرورشگاه · 2019

   In early-1990s Kabul, still under Soviet influence, a resourceful teenage boy who scrapes by scalping cinema tickets is sent to live in a state orphanage. There he navigates friendship and authority while escaping into vivid daydreams staged like the Bollywood movies he loves. A bittersweet coming-of-age story.

4. 

   4. Wolf and Sheep

   2016

   In a remote Afghan mountain village, shepherd children roam freely and trade superstitions and folk tales while the adults keep to strict customs that keep boys and girls apart. Through their games and whispered stories, an unhurried portrait of rural childhood takes shape.

   Why & details

   Curator’s note: An Afghan rural drama in Dari centered on village children, superstition, and social rules.

5. 

   5. Kabul, City in the Wind

   2018

   This documentary captures everyday life in Kabul during the fragile lulls between suicide bombings, following a weary bus driver and two young brothers whose policeman father is away. An intimate, atmospheric look at ordinary people enduring a city under constant threat.