My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan

A portrait of embattled Afghanistan that no other film has ever captured.

In 2014 director Richard Linklater released the Oscar-winning Boyhood – his fictional saga of growing up, filmed with the same cast across twelve years. Now award-winning filmmakers Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi release a real-life epic of boyhood and manhood – filmed across twenty years in one of the most embattled corners of the globe. “Look at the American planes!” shouts Mir – a mischievous boy of eight when the filmmakers meet him. Now he’s a man of 27 with children of his own – and a fledgling career as a news cameraman. He lived through 9/11, when his homeland became ground zero in the war on terror. He has subsequently lived through the unsuccessful war against the Taliban who have now regained power. He has never lived in a nation at peace. Mir and his family form a portrait of embattled Afghanistan that no other film has ever captured. This meaningful film commemorates the 20th 9/11 anniversary and the October defeat of the Taliban. After more than a trillion dollars spent by 40 countries, and countless lives lost, was the cost worth it – for Mir and the world?