The August 2003 UN truck bomb in Baghdad was one of the worst attacks in the organisation’s history. How do you react when you find out your father is one of the wounded, and the only survivor from the most devastated part of the building? Suddenly politics becomes personal. How do you even begin to rebuild your life after such an event? You make the acclaimed documentary film “Pulled from the Rubble” telling your family’s story. Margaret Loescher talks to Maryam Maruf about the decisions of a filmmaker, the failure of American foreign policy, barbeques, and her dad, Gil.

Afghanistan’s first post-Taliban feature film, a bleak yet lyrical story of a young girl forced to ‘pass’ as a boy in order to support her widowed mother, is provoking worldwide interest in the country’s cinematic heritage and future. As Siddiq Barmak presents the film in open-air screenings around Kabul, Maryam Maruf of openDemocracy and Maggie Loescher talk to the acclaimed director.