Hello and welcome to Downstream, shot remotely from my house because we couldn't do an in-person interview, because I got the flu at precisely the wrong time.

When the Taliban retook Kabul in 2021, after the withdrawal of American occupying forces,

it came as a shock to much of the West.

Not only had 20 years of the war on terror failed to defeat the Taliban,

they had returned seemingly stronger and in control

of more territory than they were before 9-11. But who are these men? What is their attitude towards

governing the rights of Afghan women and the nations on their borders? With me to discuss all this and more is Ibrahim Nashat, a filmmaker and journalist who is able to gain

unprecedented access to the Taliban in 2021. His extraordinary documentary Hollywoodgate

documents the first year following the fall of Kabul. It truly is an amazing film,

not least because of the central tension

between what the Taliban want to show

and the film Ibrahim wants to make.

Ibrahim Nushat, welcome to downstream.

Thanks a lot for having me.

Why the hell did you go to Kabul literally the day after the Americans withdrew?

Like what possessed you?

Didn't you have friends, family, loved ones being like,

what are you doing? This is crazy.

It's nice to have the question being asked in a different way that I normally get,

which makes it very serious. So, nope, they were all like, what are you doing?

It didn't ring a bell with everybody around me was not agreeing with that.

Actually, my friends sat me down just before I went when I was like transiting and they sat me

...