The word paikar is Persian for "war" or "warrior" and what you're getting from a documentary of the same name is war, of a sort, but layered among so many levels: the war within a family, the war in Afghanistan, the war within the director's own self. This is filmmaking at its highest level, and I'm so thrilled to be joined by director Dawood Hilmandi today to talk about his truly epic directorial debut, which screened at this year's Hot Docs.

PAIKAR (2025)'s logline: "an Iranian expat journeys back to his homeland, where he must face his domineering father and grapple with complex emotions about family ties, cultural identity, and his place in the world."

I've spent 18 months in Afghanistan and it holds a special place in my heart. Let's celebrate people like Dawood who have given so much to make their art a reality.

In this episode, Dawood and I discuss:

what his father would think of his film;
how he got started in filmmaking;
what made him decide to do PAIKAR as his directorial debut;
the blend of languages in between Iran and Afghanistan and why the landscape is so important in understanding the film;
what people should know before watching the film and how they should feel afterwards;
the technical aspects of the film and how he decided how it was going to go -- at least in the beginning;
why did he choose the festivals he did for his film;
the release date for the film;
what's next for him.
the state of film in Afghanistan.

Dawood's Indie Filmmaker Highlight: Aboozar Amini

Memorable Quotes:

" He would be grateful or he would feel good that it's not against him. It's more like for him or because of him."

" The filmmaking, it has a long history in my family. Even as a child we were not allowed to watch films, so we were forbidden to watch films."

"I need to share untold stories."

" It's like when once you leave your country is almost like the memory of a home that maybe doesn't exist anymore. So you keep desiring that home. You keep thinking of it."

" Just be patient with the emotional moments and with the silences in the film."

" I have a different kind of connection to IDFA because I used to go there and watch films, like days nonstop, watching six films a day."

" We're starting a new era of Afghan films and new sort of new type of films.

Links:

Follow Dawood On Instagram

PAIKAR Trailer