The Smell of Paradise

The Smell of Paradise is a journey along the edge of Islam, visiting Pakistan, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Qatar to portray the struggle of individuals caught up in the maelstrom of recent history. The film, made for Dutch broadcaster VPRO and its current affairs programme Tegenlicht (Backlight), introduces us to the ideas of freedom fighters and warlords such as Ismael Khan, who followed the revolutionary ideas of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, according to an interview he gave two weeks before he died in a car bomb bombing. Director Marcin Mamon is not new to explosive subjects. In his documentary The Real Godfather (1998), he portrayed a Chechen mafia boss. Among the credits of Mariusz Pilis is The Price of Truth (2001), a documentary account of the search for Petra Prochazkova, a Czech journalist who gave up her job as a war correspondent to set up a crisis centre for children in Grozny. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)