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Directed by Martin Bourboulon, “13 days 13 nights” recounts the most important exfiltration mission ever led by France between August 15 and 28, 2021 in Kabul. For the film, the city has been impressively reconstructed.
Four years after the exfiltration of more than 2,800 Afghan civilians in Kabul, a city fell into the hands of the Taliban, cinema seizes this operation, the most perilous ever carried out by France. The film 13 days, 13 nights adapts the witness book of the man who led this mission, Commander Mohamed Bida, embodied on the screen by Roschdy Zem.
Ambitious, the political thriller reconstitutes the atmosphere and the course of the operation in a very realistic way. Unsurprisingly, the film was not shot in Afghanistan. The country is still under the influence of the Taliban at present and it would have impossible for the shooting team to use the real sets safely.
13 days, 13 nights was shot in Morocco, more precisely in Casablanca. “”This has imposed itself because the country is very organized for filmingexplains director Martin Bourboulon in Allociné. They have great teams. They know how to welcome films that have strong ambitions. ”
10,000 extras participated in the film
Figuration is a very important element in the film. It is she who gives the most of the intense sequences. To be close to reality, many Afghan people appear on the screen. In total, no less than 10,000 extras participated in the film.
“”When we arrive on the set, see this horde of people, give everything every day, it transports ussays Roschdy Zem during our interview. We are responsible for this energy there. They had incredible intensity. Even the guy in the 45th row had exorbited eyes. I could see the veins come out of his neck so much he was screaming. I had never experienced this before, I had chills and we feel even more inhabited when we play. “
Interview by Thomas Desroches, in Paris, June 17, 2025
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