Meister der Träume (Nothingwood)

Everyone knows Hollywood and Bollywood – but what’s Nothingwood? That’s how French director Sonia Kronlund calls the assembly line productions of Afghan filmmaker Salim Shaheen, who has produced more than 100 features in his home country. His mixtures of B-movie action and Bollywood kitsch featuring himself in the starring role seem bizarre to Western viewers. But as touching as his enthusiasm is, it’s also mortally dangerous in a country where the Taliban are strictly opposed to frivolous decadence like cinema. But Shaheen is undeterred. As he once stated breezily: If he and Kronlund were to die while shooting a movie, then it would surely be God’s will. He fights religious fundamentalism with film fanaticism.