Afghan Director Aboozar Amini Talks Returning to IDFA With Sequel to ‘Kabul, City in the Wind’ (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Five years after opening the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam with his feature debut “Kabul, City in the Wind,” Afghanistan-born, Netherlands-based filmmaker Aboozar Amini returns to IDFA to present his latest, “Kabul, Year Zero,” at the festival’s industry section, Forum.

The choice to return to IDFA was an obvious one to Amini and frequent collaborator Jia Zhao of Silk Road Film Salon, who is co-producing “Kabul, Year Zero” alongside Julia Niethammer for Chromosome and Heejung Oh for Seesaw Pictures.

Speaking exclusively to Variety, Zhao said, “It was a very conscious choice to get back to IDFA because Aboozar’s first project was here, and to have had a first feature be seen by so many people — many of whom still have some fresh memories of it — was special to us.

Of course, IDFA still had to choose us, but the Forum always had priority.” “For me, seeing people’s reactions to the project is the most important thing,” said Amini when asked about presenting the project at the festival’s market. “Because once you are all the way into the process of making the film, it can be hard to grasp how it comes across to others and that is essential to me in the filmmaking process.” “Kabul, Year Zero” continues to trail the subjects of Amini’s previous film, young people zigzagging through a world shadowed by suicide bombings and violent conflicts.