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Kevin MacDonald is an accomplished director, winning an Oscar for his 1999 documentary One Day in September and acclaim from BAFTA for The Last King of Scotland and The Mauritanian. He splits his time between narrative and documentary filmmaking, including nonfiction films about Mick Jagger, Bob Marley, and Whitney Houston. Now, he’s tackling a topic that includes music and a region of immense conflict in Last Song from Kabul, the story of a group of girls from a musical school in Afghanistan who fled to Portugal when the Taliban took power.

I had the chance to speak with MacDonald about working with these resilient young women and whether they may have been hesitant to appear in the film, which is on the Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Short. We also looked back at his past projects and discussed what he most enjoys about the challenges of both the narrative and documentary formats.

You can watch the video above, and read below for an official summary and where to watch.

Film summary:

The music stopped when the Taliban took over Afghanistan – it was forbidden, the penalty was death. Young girls who belonged to a music school went into hiding – fearing for themselves and their families – eventually escaping to Portugal where they tried to rebuild their lives and play music again.

Check out more of Abe Friedtanzer’s articles.

Last Song from Kabul is currently streaming on Paramount+.