Like in the movie, he initiated contact by responding to a classified ad in the local newspaper.
The movie is based on Stallworth's 2014 book Black Klansman, which details his experience. In October 1978, African-American detective Ron Stallworth successfully infiltrated the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado Springs, CO. Stallworth attended the event as a crowd member in order to keep an eye on things.ĭid Ron Stallworth really infiltrate the KKK? When the developer of the Black Power movement, Stokely Carmichael, came to town to speak at a local nightclub, the department was worried Carmichael's rhetoric might incite violence. Leaving was not easy, but she is now safe outside Afghanistan.Yes. She was a young Hazara woman without any protection. Unfortunately, when the Taliban arrived in Kabul, she had to do what many other Afghans did: escape. I sensed that fulfilling that duty and obligation would be impossible for her under the Taliban regime. She's terrified about what might happen to her, and worries about how she'll be able to take care of her ailing father and younger sister. In August, as the Taliban approaches, she tells me she heard that they are taking women over 15 for forced marriages. withdrawal approaches, she tells me that she bought a new hijab because she's afraid of being harassed and assaulted by men in her neighbourhood. (CBC / Fatima in Kabul)Īt the beginning of the film, she's telling me about school holidays and sharing selfies with funny filters. Fatima's conversations with 'Fatima in Kabul' director Brishkay Ahmed went from life updates and selfies to worrying how she would take care of her younger sister and ailing father under Taliban rule. Our voice and video messages, back and forth, show how quickly things changed for her. In Fatima in Kabul, you see our conversations slowly shifting from daily life to Fatima's future. She did not have any reservations about being filmed or filming herself (something she learned to do when she started working for me in 2018). She's a young woman who grew up in the digital age expressing her realities is part of her identity. She began by speaking up about her mother to the BBC, then she spoke to me about her own unfolding experiences. But we continued talking via Facebook and WhatsApp, and our exchanges became the backbone of the documentary Fatima in Kabul.įatima has always wanted to share her life experiences with the world. We both became confined to our nation, city and home. I was planning to go back to film her unfolding life in 2020 when the pandemic got in the way. Slowly, we became reliable friends.įatima graduated from high school and was accepted into Kabul University's theatre department. Each time, Fatima helped me more and more. Between 20, I returned to Kabul many times to film that documentary.
I thought it would be good to train her, to help her gain some skills plus it was an opportunity for her to work in a safe environment.
I needed a female assistant to help me film inside ZAN TV (the women's news network) in Kabul. In 2018, I went to Afghanistan to film a documentary. In late 2017, Fatima and I began talking through Facebook. So I contacted a friend at the BBC and got her contact information. She was a young woman with a lot of responsibilities inside a dangerous city. I watched the interview and my heart wanted to reach out to her. He knew that I had been working in Afghanistan and thought I might be able to help her somehow. My colleague was moved by Fatima's story. He had seen Fatima on BBC News, talking about how her mother had been killed in a suicide bomb attack in Kabul. I first heard about her from a former colleague in 2017. By: Brishkay Ahmed, director of Fatima in Kabulįatima and I became friends through Facebook.