A grieving Afghan Mother and a U.S. filmmaker, connected through one deadly stray bullet forge friendship amidst America's longest war.

This story of intimate female friendship forged amidst America's longest war is told by a filmmaker who spent 18 years in-and-out of Afghanistan. In this war movie, the battlefield lies behind the curtains of an Afghan home as Bibi Hajji struggles to survive the loss of her youngest child, and the impact of a brother’s death on her remaining sons. A haunting image of that boy surviving a bullet wound prompted director Carol Dysinger to investigate, what happened to him, who fired the shot? "One Bullet" evolves from procedural to an excavation of the human experience, of loss and redemption. It asks: how might we make peace across vast social, cultural and religious divisions? One cup of tea at a time.

ABOUT THE FILM

Academy Award winning filmmaker Carol Dysinger was embedded with international forces in Afghanistan when her unit’s colonel was assigned to investigate the shooting of a teenager. What begins as the colonel’s investigation becomes Dysinger’s, as she befriends the mother of the victim and is slowly welcomed into the domestic world of Afghan women, so rarely seen onscreen. But as Dysinger works, she becomes part of that family, moving from documentarian to participant — and finally witnesses, in astonishingly close quarters, the catastrophic consequences of the American invasion.

Dysinger was uniquely positioned to capture this story: she began working in Afghanistan in 2005, directing her acclaimed film “Camp Victory, Afghanistan” which documented a detente turned friendship between a US Colonel and Afghan General. In months on base with these men, Dysinger achieved the verité filmmaker’s goal of near invisibility — as well as the trust of her sources. She also produced a unique cache of footage. “One Bullet” began in the editing room for Camp Victory, when Dysinger, reviewing what she’d shot, became haunted by one of the casualties she’d documented — 16-year old Fahim. Struck by a bullet one evening in front of his home, Fahim was paralyzed — and despite the American investigation, never compensated. In 2011, Dysinger returned to find out Fahim’s fate. 

And this is how she met Bibi. 

Bibi Hajji is a fiercely devout widow and mother of 11 children. In the wake of Fahim’s death, Bibi and Dysinger strike up a friendship that quickly destroys the conventions of documentary filmmaking. Bibi insists on breaking the fourth wall, and soon hijacks the whole film — dismissing, at risk to herself and family, the Afghan men around her who say: “Don’t let that American film you.” 

Bibi lets Dysinger film anyway, doggedly capturing the sprawling fallout of that single bullet which killed Fahim. The resulting film speaks to a whole war — and America’s decline on the world stage. It also speaks to the most pressing issues of identity politics in film making, as Dysinger grapples with her own role in ongoing events. “Ultimately, I stopped acting like the American savior who could achieve justice,” she says, “and accepted my status as a women, foreigner and friend." As a consequence, her film not only documents tragedy, it tells the story of an unlikely and inspiring friendship. Like Afghanistan itself, Bibi doesn't need saving. She’s a survivor. And in Dysinger’s hands, her family’s story propels “One Bullet” into ranks of essential films about Afghanistan, America, and the reality of war. 

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CAROL DYSINGER

Director, PRODUCEr, CO-CINEMATOGRAPHER

Carol Dysinger directed the short documentary LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (if you're a girl) which won both the OSCAR® for best short documentary and the BAFTA for best short. It also won best documentary short from IDA and at Tribeca Film Festival 2019.

Dysinger is also known for her feature length documentary "Camp Victory, Afghanistan". compiled from 300+ hours of footage gathered over the course of five years. It premiered in competition at SXSW 2010, and played at the Museum of Modern Art Doc Fortnight and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. Funded by Sundance Doc Fund and Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the film later appeared on Public Television.

Prior to directing docs, Professor Dysinger edited many documentaries and features, including DEADLINE for Big Mouth Productions (Sundance, and NBC), RAIN for Lola Films, M.Scorsese Executive Producer (Sundance, Venice International) SANTITOS for Springall Pix, John Sayles Exec (Sundance, Guadalajara, San Sebastian) and PUNK (Warners) which was a finalist for a national Emmy®.

As a screenwriter in Los Angeles, she co-wrote several scripts for Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox and Sam Goldwyn Productions, and A CHRISTMAS STAR with Fred Gwyn and Ed Asner for Disney. She wrote several independent features BURNTOWN for HBO Independent, and FAT GIRLS FROM HELL for Sheila Mclaughlin. Her dramatic short films screened widely and won several awards including the Student Academy Award® for Best Dramatic and the Hugo Award. She is the recipient of the David Payne Carter award for excellence in teaching from New York University where she teaches in the Graduate Film Department.

Carol was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and is currently developing a semi-autobiographical interactive piece depicting her experience filming war.

She is a member of WGA West.

Su Kim

produced by

Su Kim is an Academy Award–nominated and Emmy® and Peabody Award–winning producer and recipient of the Sundance 2022 Amazon Studios Nonfiction Producers Award. Her films include Bitterbrush, the OSCAR® and Primetime Emmy®-nominated Hale County This Morning, This Evening (director RaMell Ross), Midnight Traveler (director Hassan Fazili) and Easter Snap (director RaMell Ross). She was the New York producer for Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone (If You’re a Girl) which won the OSCAR® and BAFTA. She has served as a mentor at the UnionDocs Summer Documentary Labs, the Korean Film Council S#1 Documentary Lab and as an advisor at the Sundance Institute Documentary Creative Producing Lab. Su is a member of the AMPAS, the Television Academy and the PGA.

Jesper Jack

PRODUCER

Jesper Jack is a multi-award winning Copenhagen-based producer with a director background and international expertise in documentary development and production with a certificate from EAVE and Screen Leaders.

ASHIM BHALLA

PRODUCER

Ashim Balla is a British and Indian screenwriter and founding producer of Kwanon Films. Trained in New York University's Graduate Film Program, Ashim made several award-winning short films. He founded ‘The Purple List’ – a highly successful NYU version of Hollywood's screenplay ‘Black List’; alums include Chloe Zhao, Shaka King, Desiree Akhavan and Ash Mayfair. Ashim worked in production for BBC Drama in London. As a screenwriter, he developed the drama series Kala Pani. He has written and produced films for brands including Renault and Jaeger-LeCoultre. His short fiction crime drama ‘973’ shot in French Guiana airs on Canal+ summer 2022. He is currently producing Charlie Chaplin, A Man of the World, the first documentary on Chaplin by members of his family, and Carmen Chaplin’s forthcoming fiction feature film set in the world of fashion, Photocall. Ashim is a founder of the moving image artists forum on independent South Asian stories ‘Desi Parallel 1857’.

STEEN JOHANNESSEN

PRIMARY Editor

A Danish editor and co-director of Oscar® nominated Sundance Grand Jury price winner Last Men in Aleppo. Steen has edited numerous Danish and international award-winning documentaries among other IDFA award winner Who We Were, DOC NYC grand jury award winner Motley's Law, Chinese DOC NYC special mention The Road, the Emmy award winning film Miners Shot Down, Sundance award winner Putins Kiss and Hotdocs award winner Warriors From The North. Steen has also edited Last Men in Aleppo.

KIRSTEN JOHNSON

CO-CINEMATOGRAPHER

Kirsten Johnson is a New-York based documentary director, producer and principal cinematographer on over 40 feature-length documentaries. Her most recent Academy® short-listed film Dick Johnson is Dead premiered at Sundance and can be seen on Netflix. Cameraperson (2016) premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2016; was awarded three 2017 Cinema Eye Honors, including ‘Outstanding Nonfiction Feature’. Earlier credits include her short film The Above (2015) which premiered at the 2015 New York Film Festival, Deadline (2004) which she co-directed with Katy Chevigny, and The Oath (2010) which she shared the 2010 Sundance Cinematography Award with Laura Poitras. Kirsten was principal cinematographer on Academy Award-winning Citizenfour (2004), Academy Award nominated, The Invisible War (2012), Tribeca Documentary winner, Pray The Devil Back To Hell (2008), A Place at the Table (2012), and Derrida (2002). Her camerawork also appears in the Cannes 2016 premiere of Risk (2016) Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Emmy Award winning Ladies First (2013), and Sundance premiere This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006)

PATRICIA FINNERAN

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER / IMPACT PRODUCER

Patricia Finneran is founder of Story Matters which provides media impact distribution strategy and development consulting services to nonprofits and independent media makers. She creates and facilitates media-related conferences, leads storytelling + impact workshops, and coaches individual clients. Patricia previously served as: Creative Producer, Sundance Institute Documentary Program; Festival Director, Silverdocs: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival; and Director, Good Pitch Local & Development at Doc Society. She holds a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, studied production at AFI and is an alumnus of Ford JustFilms Rockwood Leadership and National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Programs.

JAVED REZAYEE

Associate Producer

Javed Rezayee has translated, subtitled, and provided consultancy for several documentary films on Afghanistan including: “Opium Brides” produced by PBS/FRONTLINE; “Snow Leopards of Afghanistan” made by MRF/National Geographic; and “Far From Afghanistan” created by Emerson College. Javed is currently Associated Producer of “One Bullet” directed by Carol Dysinger. He’s been working with Open Society Foundations in New York since 2012. Previously he worked for five years with United Nations’ voluntary disarmament and refugee programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Javed was born in Kabul and graduated from Tufts University in 2010.