Gul Mohammed, who works as a host in the Ariana Cinema, poses for a photograph in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. After seizing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating.(AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Gul Mohammed, who works as a host in the Ariana Cinema, poses for a photograph in Kabul,...READ ON
Gul Mohammed, who works as a host in the Ariana Cinema, poses for a photograph in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. After seizing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating.(AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
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A vase with fake roses stands inside the ticket office of the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. After recapturing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating.(AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
A vase with fake roses stands inside the ticket office of the Ariana Cinema in Kabul,...READ ON
A vase with fake roses stands inside the ticket office of the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. After recapturing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating.(AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
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Abdul Malik Wahidi, who sells tickets at Ariana Cinema, poses for a photograph in the ticketing office in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. The cinema’s staff still show up at work every day hoping they will eventually get paid, despite the Taliban’s orders to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Abdul Malik Wahidi, who sells tickets at Ariana Cinema, poses for a photograph in the...READ ON
Abdul Malik Wahidi, who sells tickets at Ariana Cinema, poses for a photograph in the ticketing office in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. The cinema’s staff still show up at work every day hoping they will eventually get paid, despite the Taliban’s orders to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
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Asita Ferdous sits inside her home in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. She’s the director of the Ariana Cinema and is not allowed to enter the cinema because the Taliban ordered female government employees to stay away from their workplaces. Kabul AFG
Asita Ferdous sits inside her home in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021....READ ON
Asita Ferdous sits inside her home in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. She’s the director of the Ariana Cinema and is not allowed to enter the cinema because the Taliban ordered female government employees to stay away from their workplaces. Kabul AFG
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Empty seats are seen inside the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. After seizing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Empty seats are seen inside the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, Nov. 4,...READ ON
Empty seats are seen inside the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. After seizing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
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Abdul Fatah sits on his bed inside the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. Fatah lives in the cinema where he works as a security guard. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Abdul Fatah sits on his bed inside the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday,...READ ON
Abdul Fatah sits on his bed inside the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. Fatah lives in the cinema where he works as a security guard. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
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A staff member walks in the hallways of the Ariana Cinema on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. The cinema’s staff still show up at work every day hoping they will eventually get paid, despite the Taliban’s orders to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
A staff member walks in the hallways of the Ariana Cinema on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. The...READ ON
A staff member walks in the hallways of the Ariana Cinema on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. The cinema’s staff still show up at work every day hoping they will eventually get paid, despite the Taliban’s orders to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
The cool 1960s-style lines of the Ariana Cinema’s marquee stand out over a traffic-clogged roundabout in downtown Kabul. For decades, the historic cinema has entertained Afghans and borne witness to Afghanistan’s wars, hopes and cultural shifts.
Now the marquee is stripped of the posters of Bollywood movies and American action flicks that used to adorn it. The gates are closed.
After recapturing power, the Taliban ordered the Ariana and other cinemas to stop operating. The Islamic militant guerrillas-turned-rulers say they have yet to decide whether they will allow movies in Afghanistan.
Like the rest of the country, the Ariana is in a strange limbo, waiting to see how the Taliban will rule.
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Rahmatullah Ezati plays back a film roll in the projectionist room of the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. The cinema’s staff still show up at work every day hoping they will eventually get paid, despite the Taliban’s orders to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Rahmatullah Ezati plays back a film roll in the projectionist room of the Ariana Cinema...READ ON
Rahmatullah Ezati plays back a film roll in the projectionist room of the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. The cinema’s staff still show up at work every day hoping they will eventually get paid, despite the Taliban’s orders to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
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Staff members sit inside the ticket office of the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. They still show up at work every day hoping they will eventually get paid, despite the Taliban’s orders to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Staff members sit inside the ticket office of the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on...READ ON
Staff members sit inside the ticket office of the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. They still show up at work every day hoping they will eventually get paid, despite the Taliban’s orders to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
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Abdul Malik Wahidi, who sells tickets at Ariana Cinema, browses through unsold tickets in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021. After recapturing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Abdul Malik Wahidi, who sells tickets at Ariana Cinema, browses through unsold tickets in...READ ON
Abdul Malik Wahidi, who sells tickets at Ariana Cinema, browses through unsold tickets in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021. After recapturing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
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Staff members share a meal together in the Ariana Cinema in Kabul Afghanistan on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021. After seizing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Staff members share a meal together in the Ariana Cinema in Kabul Afghanistan on...READ ON
Staff members share a meal together in the Ariana Cinema in Kabul Afghanistan on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021. After seizing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
The cinema’s nearly 20 employees, all men, still show up at work, logging in their attendance in hopes they will eventually get paid. The landmark Ariana, one of only four cinemas in the capital, is owned by the Kabul municipality, so its employees are government workers and remain on the payroll.
The men while away the hours. They hang out in the abandoned ticket booth or stroll the Ariana’s curving corridors. Rows of plush red seats sit in silent darkness. The Ariana’s director, Asita Ferdous, the first woman in the post, is not even allowed to enter the cinema. The Taliban ordered female government employees to stay away from their workplaces so they don’t mix with men, until they determine whether they will be allowed to work.
The 26-year-old Ferdous is part of a post-2001 generation of young Afghans determined to carve out a greater space for women’s rights. The Taliban takeover has wrecked their hopes. Also a painter and sculptor, she now stays at home.
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Rahmatullah Ezati looks out to the theatre of the Ariana Cinema from the projection room in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021. Ezati, a movie enthusiast, is a projectionist at the cinema, which is no longer operating, on orders from the Taliban. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Rahmatullah Ezati looks out to the theatre of the Ariana Cinema from the projection room...READ ON
Rahmatullah Ezati looks out to the theatre of the Ariana Cinema from the projection room in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021. Ezati, a movie enthusiast, is a projectionist at the cinema, which is no longer operating, on orders from the Taliban. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
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Abdul Fatah looks out the window from the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. Fatah lives in the cinema where he works as a security guard. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Abdul Fatah looks out the window from the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday,...READ ON
Abdul Fatah looks out the window from the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. Fatah lives in the cinema where he works as a security guard. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
During their previous time in power from 1996-2001, the Taliban imposed a radical interpretation of Islamic law forbidding women from working or going to school — or even leaving home in many cases — and forcing men to grow beards and attend prayers. They banned music and other art, including movies and cinema. Under international pressure, the Taliban now say they have changed. But they have been vague about what they will or won’t allow. That has put many Afghans’ lives — and livelihoods — on hold.
For the Ariana, it is another chapter in a tumultuous six-decade history. The Ariana opened in 1963. Its sleek architecture mirrored the modernizing spirit that the then-ruling monarchy was trying to bring to the deeply traditional nation.
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Empty billboards that used to display posters of Bollywood movies and American action flicks hang outside the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. After recapturing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Empty billboards that used to display posters of Bollywood movies and American action...READ ON
Empty billboards that used to display posters of Bollywood movies and American action flicks hang outside the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. After recapturing power three months ago, the Taliban ordered cinemas to stop operating. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
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Rahmat Shah, who works as a host, poses for a photograph inside the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Rahmat Shah, who works as a host, poses for a photograph inside the Ariana Cinema in...READ ON
Rahmat Shah, who works as a host, poses for a photograph inside the Ariana Cinema in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
The Cinema of Kabul
The cool 1960s-style lines of the Ariana Cinema’s marquee stand out over a traffic-clogged roundabout in downtown Kabul. For decades, the historic cinema has entertained Afghans and borne witness to Afghanistan’s wars, hopes and cultural shifts.
Now the marquee is stripped of the posters of Bollywood movies and American action flicks that used to adorn it. The gates are closed.
After recapturing power, the Taliban ordered the Ariana and other cinemas to stop operating. The Islamic militant guerrillas-turned-rulers say they have yet to decide whether they will allow movies in Afghanistan.
Like the rest of the country, the Ariana is in a strange limbo, waiting to see how the Taliban will rule.
The cinema’s nearly 20 employees, all men, still show up at work, logging in their attendance in hopes they will eventually get paid. The landmark Ariana, one of only four cinemas in the capital, is owned by the Kabul municipality, so its employees are government workers and remain on the payroll.
The men while away the hours. They hang out in the abandoned ticket booth or stroll the Ariana’s curving corridors. Rows of plush red seats sit in silent darkness.
The Ariana’s director, Asita Ferdous, the first woman in the post, is not even allowed to enter the cinema. The Taliban ordered female government employees to stay away from their workplaces so they don’t mix with men until they determine whether they will be allowed to work.
The 26-year-old Ferdous is part of a post-2001 generation of young Afghans determined to carve out greater space for women’s rights. The Taliban takeover has wrecked their hopes. Also a painter and sculptor, she now stays at home.
During their previous time in power from 1996-2001, the Taliban imposed a radical interpretation of Islamic law forbidding women from working or going to school — or even leaving home in many cases — and forcing men to grow beards and attend prayers. They banned music and other art, including movies and cinema. Under international pressure, the Taliban now say they have changed. But they have been vague about what they will or won’t allow. That has put many Afghans’ lives — and livelihoods — on hold.
For the Ariana, it is another chapter in a tumultuous six-decade history.
The Ariana opened in 1963. Its sleek architecture mirrored the modernizing spirit that the then-ruling monarchy was trying to bring to the deeply traditional nation.
The cool 1960s-style lines of the Ariana Cinema’s marquee stand out over a traffic-clogged roundabout in downtown Kabul. For decades, the historic cinema has entertained Afghans and borne witness to Afghanistan’s wars, hopes and cultural shifts.
Now the marquee is stripped of the posters of Bollywood movies and American action flicks that used to adorn it. The gates are closed.
After recapturing power, the Taliban ordered the Ariana and other cinemas to stop operating. The Islamic militant guerrillas-turned-rulers say they have yet to decide whether they will allow movies in Afghanistan.
Like the rest of the country, the Ariana is in a strange limbo, waiting to see how the Taliban will rule.
The cinema’s nearly 20 employees, all men, still show up at work, logging in their attendance in hopes they will eventually get paid. The landmark Ariana, one of only four cinemas in the capital, is owned by the Kabul municipality, so its employees are government workers and remain on the payroll.
The men while away the hours. They hang out in the abandoned ticket booth or stroll the Ariana’s curving corridors. Rows of plush red seats sit in silent darkness. The Ariana’s director, Asita Ferdous, the first woman in the post, is not even allowed to enter the cinema. The Taliban ordered female government employees to stay away from their workplaces so they don’t mix with men, until they determine whether they will be allowed to work.
The 26-year-old Ferdous is part of a post-2001 generation of young Afghans determined to carve out a greater space for women’s rights. The Taliban takeover has wrecked their hopes. Also a painter and sculptor, she now stays at home.
During their previous time in power from 1996-2001, the Taliban imposed a radical interpretation of Islamic law forbidding women from working or going to school — or even leaving home in many cases — and forcing men to grow beards and attend prayers. They banned music and other art, including movies and cinema. Under international pressure, the Taliban now say they have changed. But they have been vague about what they will or won’t allow. That has put many Afghans’ lives — and livelihoods — on hold.
For the Ariana, it is another chapter in a tumultuous six-decade history. The Ariana opened in 1963. Its sleek architecture mirrored the modernizing spirit that the then-ruling monarchy was trying to bring to the deeply traditional nation.
Bram Janssen / Visual Journalist
Bram Janssen is a visual journalist, photographer and videographer working for the Associated Press. Covering Europe, Middle East and Africa