By Ashley Brickner, Arts and Entertainment Editor
As the son of low-income immigrant parents, Baktash Ahadi ‘05 could have never imagined getting the opportunity to tell his story. As a human rights activist, TEDx speaker and Emmy award winning filmmaker, Ahadi attributes his success to his father’s belief in America. After winning his first Emmy for his documentary “Retrograde,” Ahadi requested for his Emmy to be sent to his parents’ house. He instructed them to place the award in their front window for passersby to see, suggesting that if his father did not believe in America, none of his accomplishments would have happened.
On Thursday, April 4, students, faculty, and other guests welcomed the alum back to Susquehanna to enjoy a screening of his documentary followed by a short Q&A. Capturing the final months of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, Ahadi documented the tribulations and atrocities of war from several diverse perspectives. He follows one of the last U.S. Special Forces units deployed in Afghanistan, a young Afghan general and his troops desperately fighting to defend their country and the civilians trying to hastily flee their homes as the country collapses under the Taliban’s invasion.
According to Ahadi’s website, “He directs, produces, and writes films that explore the human condition and is particularly drawn to stories of forced migration, conflict, refugees, and vulnerable and underrepresented communities.”
Ahadi further explained that he perceives stories as fundamental artifacts. As a child, he craved knowledge about the place where he was born because he did not know anything about it. Ahadi stated, “I was thirsty for stories about this place, but my parents didn’t have the tools to explain this place.”
As he continued his education at Susquehanna, he appreciated the emphasis placed on perspective, storytelling and diversity within the university’s curriculum. Reminiscing on Mary Oliver’s quote, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Ahadi detailed the inspiration behind his work, saying that the quote reminds him to be the hero he needed as a child. He fervently emphasizes the importance of storytelling within his work because it gives him the opportunity to create meaning. He strives to illustrate stories about who we are as Americans and learn more about who we were.
After spending three years in Afghanistan as a combat interpreter and cultural advisor, he decided to document the soldiers and civilians fighting on the front lines of the War on Terror. Yet, Ahadi stated that the documentary captures a tragedy nobody anticipated. While he expressed that nobody anticipated the U.S. government pulling troops out of Afghanistan, Ahadi also explained that returning soldiers also face unexpected consequences.
According to Ahadi, after returning from Afghanistan, many soldiers grapple with the ramifications of moral injury, which leaves them feeling as if their sacrifices meant nothing. After losing two friends to suicide, Ahadi attributes the high rates of veteran suicides to the lack of institutional and societal support. As rates of suicide among the veteran population increases exorbitantly, Ahadi urges us to consider a more important question: “What are we not seeing as a society?” While he suggests connecting with veterans to better understand the extent of their trauma, he also ardently emphasizes the importance of engagement.
After an audience member asked about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the possible outcomes if the U.S. ended its support, Ahadi explained that the outcomes would not be good. Therefore, he stated, “Engagement is crucial and, in some sense, our responsibility. We need to ask ourselves what our responsibility is.” He explained that it is our responsibility, as Americans, to engage; if we fail to do so, America will cease to exist. He suggested that the aftermath of 9/11 taught us that events in far-off lands affect us here, and our engagement is crucial to individual and global conflicts.
Before concluding his presentation, Ahadi briefly discussed his future endeavors. According to his website, Ahadi is “directing a film about combat veterans, mental health, and equine therapy.” As he works on his upcoming film, Ahadi hopes to illustrate what war has done to us, stating, “If we don’t have a national conversation about what war has done to us, it will continue to harm us.” Through the art of storytelling, Ahadi hopes to shed light on the impacts of war and the steps society must take to reconcile its consequences.
