{"id":341374,"date":"2026-03-11T23:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T23:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/341374\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T23:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T23:25:07","slug":"a-dog-called-money-director-preps-doc-on-resilient-afghan-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/341374\/","title":{"rendered":"‘A Dog Called Money’ Director Preps Doc on Resilient Afghan Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIrish photojournalist and filmmaker Seamus Murphy<\/a> (\u201cA Dog Called Money\u201d) is developing a feature documentary that tells the remarkable story of a resilient Afghan family forced to flee their war-torn nation \u2014 only to face fresh challenges as they struggle to rebuild their lives in exile.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Beautiful and the Damned\u201d is produced by BAFTA-winning Irish producer\u00a0David Rane for Soilsi\u00fa Films, in co-production with Catherine Sim\u00e9on of Faites un voeu (France) and Heino Deckert of Ma.ja.de\u00a0(Germany). Murphy is presenting the project in the Pitching Forum at the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival, which runs March 5 \u2013 15.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking to\u00a0Variety\u00a0in Thessaloniki, Murphy\u00a0\u2014\u00a0whose last feature, \u201cA Dog Called Money,\u201d about award-winning British musician PJ Harvey, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2019\u00a0\u2014\u00a0described his latest film as a personal project three decades in the making, building on friendships forged in the midst of conflict 30 years ago. \u201cI had no idea that this would go on [until now],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe director, who cut his teeth as a photojournalist in Afghanistan in the 1990s, recalled his formative years covering the bloody conflict in Kabul. \u201cI had no experience. I had nothing like hostile environment training. In those days, these things were unheard of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was horrific. It was a terrible civil war \u2014 really, really bitter,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut the people were so amazing. Often, in war situations, people show their best \u2014 as well as their worst. That was very moving and very defining.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was around that time that Murphy met the Ba Delis, one of the few families still living among the ruins of Kabul\u2019s old town.\u00a0The war had already taken a heavy toll on them. Two of their six sons had died in the fighting; another lost his leg in a rocket attack. Yet they instantly \u201cwelcomed us in,\u201d the director said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cKnowing them helped me better understand and personalize the grim statistics of the war,\u201d he continued. As his time in Afghanistan wound down, \u201cafter all the blood and guts and chaos,\u201d Murphy resolved to do something that was \u201ca bit more sane and a bit more hopeful.\u201d\u00a0\u201cAt that point I resolved to chronicle their lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tMurphy began photographing the family on his return visits to the country. Then, in 2014, he produced a short film for the U.K.\u2019s Channel 4 that was tied to the upcoming Afghan elections. With President Obama declaring that U.S. troops would soon be pulling out of Afghanistan, putting an end to decades of American military involvement in the country, Murphy recognized that \u201cthere was change afoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI thought bringing the family into that would be an interesting way [to tell the story],\u201d he said. \u201cThat was the seed of [a feature film]. I just knew there was so much more I could do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the years that followed, after brothers Farhuddin and Farhad were forced to flee Afghanistan, Murphy continued to chronicle their lives. In Germany, Farhad struggles to provide a stable household for his family in an unfamiliar land, where refugees \u2014 especially Afghans \u2014 often face bitter discrimination. Meanwhile, in Turkey, Farhuddin anxiously awaits an interview for citizenship, knowing he faces almost certain death if he\u2019s forced to return to Afghanistan, where the Taliban have placed him on an execution list.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout the family\u2019s struggles, however, the years have also brought moments of joy. There have been marriages \u2014 Murphy himself often serves as wedding photographer \u2014 as well as childbirths, bringing into the world a whole new generation of Ba Delis finding their own place in the world, and learning for themselves how to navigate their Afghan identity.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Beautiful and the Damned\u201d builds on Murphy\u2019s extensive archive of photographic and video material. While chronicling the lives of the Ba Deli clan both during the war and in exile, he also examines what three decades of upheaval have meant for their homeland. \u201cThere\u2019s a mountain of material \u2014 both of the family, but also of Afghanistan,\u201d he said, documenting the tremendous changes the society has undergone since the director\u2019s first visit more than 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

\n\tAbove all, though, the film is a human portrait of the Ba Deli family and a recognition that their story sadly reflects the experience of millions of people today.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe hear about refugees. We hear about their stories in newspaper articles and TV reports. You do get a glimpse of what they\u2019re going through,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cBut I think with this, it is that emotional side of their lives as real individuals. I\u2019m trying to portray them\u2026as individuals that you sympathize with, and you get to know and you get to like. And you\u2019re rooting for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival runs March 5 \u2013 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish photojournalist and filmmaker Seamus Murphy (\u201cA Dog Called Money\u201d) is developing a feature documentary that tells the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2472,93,61,60,270,156271,155945],"class_list":["post-341374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-documentaries-to-watch","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-seamus-murphy","tag-thessaloniki-documentary-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}