Riz Ahmed Joins Short Documentary About Afghanistan's First Astronaut
Actor Riz Ahmed has joined Forgotten Spaceman as an executive producer, Deadline reported on Monday 9 November. The short documentary is about Abdul Ahad Momand, Afghanistan's first and only astronaut.
Momand flew to space in 1988 on a Soviet mission. The film follows that trip. An executive producer is usually a credit for people who help secure money, partners and deals, rather than the person running the shoot day to day.
Ahmed won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2022 for The Long Goodbye. He now joins a producing group that includes Ken Loach's Sixteen Films, according to Deadline.
The film was written and directed by Elham Ehsas, a London-based actor-director. Her previous short, Yellow, was nominated for a BAFTA and shortlisted for the Academy Awards in 2024. Deadline also reports that her father was the first person to interview Momand when he returned to Earth. That personal link is part of why the project came together, the trade notes.
Lorraine Bhattachary of MonoFilm Productions is listed as a producer, Variety reported in May, and she had worked with Ehsas before on There Will Come Soft Rains. Other executive producers come from two companies: Khan & Kumar Media, whose named team includes Sharib Khan and Vikas Kumar, and Prism Entertainment, whose named team includes Shruti Ganguly, Priya Giri Desai and Megha Kadakia. Jack Thomas-O'Brien and Catherine Tschaepe are also credited as executive producers.
The film first screened in the festival circuit at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, as The Hollywood Reporter reported in August. Variety later described it as a Locarno winner. It has also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival, and it took the Best Documentary prize at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival. Its festival run continues with screenings at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.
Deadline says the film is qualified for both the Oscars and the BAFTAs. Short films are often seen at festivals first, and a qualifying run is what makes them eligible for those awards, which is why the list of festivals matters for a project like this. Next, the film's distribution plans have not been announced.
Ahmed's involvement adds a well-known name to a short that has already travelled widely on the festival circuit. For now, the film's next stop is Amsterdam.
