My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in Afghanistan +Director Q&A (12A)

Cinema Rewind
  • Friday 9th January 2026 17:00 (Q&a)

Join us on Fri 9 Jan for a live Director Q&A with Phil Grabsky

Award-winning filmmakers, Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi, present a real-life epic of boyhood and manhood, filmed across twenty years in one of the most embattled corners of the globe.

My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan follows the journey of Afghan youth, Mir Hussain, growing up in a land ravaged by war. When we first meet Mir, he is a boy of eight playing among the ruins of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in wartorn rural Afghanistan, treating the destruction around him as a wonderful playground.

It is 2002 and in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Centre, US troops have landed in Afghanistan, thus beginning a seemingly endless war in one of the world’s poorest countries. This intimate feature documentary follows Mir’s journey over the next two decades, telling a remarkably personal story of the poverty, destruction, aspiration and progress that colours Afghan life today. Now a grown man with a family of his own and an emerging career as a news cameraman in Kabul, Mir’s personal journey of pride, resilience and hope is interwoven with the narrative of his nation.

Mir’s story is joined by the sobering comments of soldiers, key politicians and journalists who offer insights into the bigger picture – the successes and failures, rights and wrongs over the past 20 years of conflict. Two decades on from 9/11 and the subsequent ‘War on Terror’, My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan offers a uniquely personal insight into one of the most devastating conflicts of the 21st Century. After a trillion dollars spent by 40 countries and 150,000 lives lost, the film asks was it worth it, for Mir, his country and the world?

This event is supported by Amnesty Group Kendal

Amnesty International group kendal Dying to Divorce arranged marriage miscarriage justice brewery arts cinema kendal cumbria

BOOK A TABLE

Make a night of it and dine with us before or after the event. Book Table

You might like...

Cinema

The Ice Tower

  • Tuesday 16th December 12:30 (Matinee | Scn3)
  • Wednesday 17th December 20:00 (Scn3)

(15) 117MINS

Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot for a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star,...

Book now
Cinema

Blue Moon

  • Tuesday 16th December 13:30 (Matinee)
  • Wednesday 17th December 19:30
  • Thursday 18th December 15:00 (Matinee | Scn3)

(15) 100MINS

...You know how in marriage they say "for better or for worse"? I think, in terms of my life, I have entered the "for worse"...

Book now
Cinema

Die My Love

  • Tuesday 16th December 16:00 (Scn3)

(15) 119MINS

From renowned filmmaker Lynne Ramsay, Die My Love is a visceral and uncompromising portrait of a woman engulfed by love and madness. Anchored by a...

Book now

Supported by