The Takeover

Filmed in 2021 and 2022, as the Taliban retake control of Afghanistan, this film documents the country’s rapid transformation and the women who refuse to lose their rights.

With astounding access, Norwegian journalist and filmmaker Anders Hammer captures the rapidly changing situation in Afghanistan as the Taliban retake control of the country. Re-installing an all-male parliament, banning girls from going to school and restricting women’s rights to work, the Taliban soon find themselves faced with the emergence of groups who bravely take their protests to the streets. Amid all the uncertainty, Hammer documents the female-led protests, the supporters and enforcers of Taliban rule and the mixed response of people across the country, as one regime comes to end and another takes power.

Content Guidance: contains racism, anti-Semitism and sexism.

This film will screen as part of the programme Shorts: Camera as Witness.