In 'Hollywoodgate,' Egyptian Filmmaker Ibrahim Nash’at Grants the World Access to the Taliban

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"I thought that if I go as an Egyptian and fellow Muslim, I'd have an advantage being amongst them," he tells OkayAfrica. "I felt I would be able to make it, and I didn't think that someone else out there was trying to tell such a story."

Through contacts, Nash'at connected with a fixer. He was introduced to MJ Mukhtar, a low-level soldier honored by Nash'at's interest. He required the permission of his boss, Mawlawi Mansour, the newly appointed commander of the Taliban government's airforce.

With most international journalists gone, Nash'at's pitch was to show the world what he would see. During these early days, when the Taliban fashioned themselves as a more inclusive "Taliban2.0," they hoped that international media coverage would earn them legitimacy.

Ego also played a role. "I quickly realized that I was the first foreigner [Mansour] had ever met in his life," says Nash'at. Impressed by his accreditations with news outlets like DW, Aljazeera and Voice of America, Mansour agreed to let him follow them as they took over Hollywood Gate, an abandoned U.S. military base that turned out to be a treasure worth billions of dollars.

"They have never given anyone access to film in their military areas," says Nash'at. In turn, he had to agree to only film what they allowed. He was not to interview any Afghani civilians or film much outside the compound. Breaking these rules could risk his life.

Still, many were skeptical. As Nash'at silently documented their tours around the base, capturing comic moments of Mansour walking on a treadmill for the first time in the fully equipped gym or a group of men attempting — and failing — to multiply 67 by 100, people continued to express their discontent over his presence. Nash'at was unaware of most of their threats because he had asked his translator not to translate them.

While watching, one cannot help but feel confused about the Taliban's capacity. We witness their discussions about medicine like cough drops left behind by the Americans, saying that they could stock the Taliban's primary hospital. But then, we watch them repair the purposefully damaged helicopters and fix sophisticated military equipment.

"It taught me that we're all arrogant and biased, thinking that our sophistication allows us to judge that the other is ignorant," says Nash'at. "But everyone has their kind of intelligence. If we want to create a safer world for all of us, we must understand that intelligence is not tied to sophistication."

Despite its comic elements, Hollywoodgate is a chilling depiction of people who enjoy waging war.

Mukhtar shares violent fantasies of martyrdom, and we see young boys' indoctrination into a life of killing. Women are only shown sitting on pavements and roads, fully covered, and often begging.

As the Taliban built their government and Mansour started abusing his powers, the filming process became more difficult for Nash'at. "[Mansour] grew tired of my presence," says Nash'at. "If he had something important, he'd often figure out a way to get rid of me. In the beginning, he was nice, but with time, he started to be a military leader."

The filmmaker, meanwhile, started worrying about the storylines taking shape in his mind, showing Mansour's personality evolving from a man with a vision for change to a power-hungry leader.

"The more the story was getting completed in my head, the more dangerous it became," he says. "If they tortured me, then they would get out of me what they didn't understand." When the newly established secret service called him into their office to see his footage, Nash'at decided to leave Afghanistan immediately, traveling through several other countries. "It didn't sound like it would be the beginning of a nice journey," he says.

Now that the film is screening in cinemas, its creator hopes it can help lift the world's disinterest in the plight of the Afghan people. While Nash'at did not directly speak to civilians, he finished his documentary saying that he felt their suffering regardless.

He stresses that Hollywoodgate is not representative of the situation in Afghanistan; instead, it is his observation of it. "I was observing with the eye of someone that hates and has suffered from war," he says. "[This story] means something to me because I understand the difference between someone that has religious beliefs and wants to be conservative on their own and someone that is using religion to suppress others, like the Taliban."