Hollywoodgate

Unprecedented and audacious, Hollywoodgate spends a year with the Taliban as they take possession of the cache America left behind in Afghanistan.

In the immediate aftermath of the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban – now in control of the country – enters an American base in Kabul called Hollywood Gate, reputed to have been a secret CIA station. There they find a portion of the over $7 billion in sophisticated American weaponry left in the country: numerous small arms and munitions, jet fighters, Black Hawk helicopters, and other military equipment. Much of it is damaged, but the base is also equipped with many of the parts needed to fix it.

Egyptian filmmaker Ibrahim Nash’at’s unprecedented and audacious Hollywoodgate bears witness as the new head of Afghanistan’s air force, Malawi Mansour orders his soldiers to inventory everything and repair all they can. The men go to work restoring the weaponry and training themselves to use it. Hollywoodgate follows the Taliban members over the course of a year as they transform from a fundamentalist militia into a heavily armed military regime preparing for war beyond Afghanistan’s borders.

Nash’at, a journalist granted unique but fraught access to Afghanistan, documents what the Taliban will allow him to see to offer a chilling and essential portrait of what is happening inside Afghanistan today. From Oscar®-winning producer Shane Boris, Hollywoodgate is an essential documentary and was shortlisted for the 2025 Best Documentary Academy Award®.