James Longley is turning his attention to a documentary about the Rohingya genocide after “Mohabat” took the top award at the Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival on Saturday.
The filmmaker, whose “Iraq in Fragments” and “Sari’s Mother” received Oscar nominations, revealed at the Czech event that work on the new project is already underway. Longley told Variety that he has filmed its first act, initially working with Diane Weyermann at Participant Media. Weyermann died in 2021, while Participant Media shut down in 2024.
“Next year marks the 10th anniversary of the 2017 genocide,” Longley said. He noted that the genocide has been formally recognized by the United States, the European Union and the British government, while adding that, to his surprise, no documentary feature has yet been produced on the subject.
“I’m uniquely prepared to make that film,” he said.
Inside “Mohabat”
The announcement follows Longley’s Ji.hlava victory for “Mohabat,” his Afghanistan-set documentary centered on a 12-year-old boy trying to keep his family together under Taliban rule. Mohabat’s father was killed by a U.S. drone while hunting.
Longley said the death occurred during the first Trump administration, when Mike Pompeo was in charge of the drone program. He described civilian deaths as common during the 20-year war and said many of those killed were forgotten far from the foreign journalists based in Kabul.
Mohabat, he explained, wanted to preserve his father’s memory and remained involved through two years of filming. His father was a tea seller at a large market on the edge of Kabul and had a wife and seven children.
During location scouting, Longley’s team also visited orphanages housing children who had lost parents in the war. He recalled that the sons of Afghan police officers killed in Taliban suicide bombings shared food with sons of Taliban fighters who had also been killed.
One of Mohabat’s friends, Elham, told the filmmakers he had been waiting for a foreign journalist to ask the children what they had witnessed and how they felt about the war.
Longley said he entered Afghanistan “with a camera in my hand instead of a gun” and was treated as a guest. While he was not attempting to become Afghan, he said his aim was to help people outside the country understand it more clearly.
“After fighting a war in their country for 20 years, this seems like the least we can do,” he said.
A Child’s Point of View
“Mohabat” continues Longley’s interest in making documentaries about and for young people, following “Iraq in Fragments” and “Angels Are Made of Light.” He said children experience the world directly and for the first time, making their perspective particularly effective when introducing Western audiences to unfamiliar places.
His approach has been influenced by Vittorio De Sica, Abbas Kiarostami, Majid Majidi and François Truffaut, among other directors who treat child characters’ lives with seriousness.
Longley also said focusing on a child made it easier to secure permission to film in Afghanistan, whether during the war or under Taliban rule. According to the director, permission for a film about a child was far easier to obtain than approval for a project centered on an adult.
There were still firm boundaries. Longley said he could not film women because appearing in the documentary would have caused a local scandal for village residents. He also acknowledged that Afghan women are secretly making their own films on iPhones, saying he did not believe he was in a position to tell their stories.
The Team Behind the Film
Alex Gibney produced “Mohabat” with Longley and Mohammad Sharif Hotak. Longley said Gibney agreed immediately when asked to collaborate on a film about life in Afghanistan under the Taliban, having previously seen and liked “Angels Are Made of Light.”
Hotak’s local knowledge was equally important. He lived near the villages where the documentary was filmed and had grown up with the same realities of war experienced by the children on screen. Longley described that familiarity with the people and the area as key to making the movie.
The director characterized his own politics as “pro-human and anti-war,” saying his films reflect that outlook. He also argued that all films and media carry the politics of the circumstances and people behind them.
ShowBiz Take
The Ji.hlava win gives “Mohabat” a major festival distinction just as Longley begins discussing his next subject. More significantly, the filmmaker is not starting the Rohingya project from scratch: its first act has already been filmed, connecting the planned documentary to earlier work with Weyermann and Participant Media.
Longley’s comments also frame the project around what he sees as a striking gap in feature documentary coverage. His record with “Mohabat” shows an established method of approaching conflict through individual lives rather than treating war only as a broad political story.
What Happens Next?
Longley plans to make the Rohingya genocide his next focus as the 10th anniversary of the 2017 genocide approaches next year. He has not detailed a release date or the remaining production schedule, but his confirmation that the opening act is complete establishes the documentary as an active project rather than a preliminary idea.