Sixteen Films is positioning this as a victory for underrepresented voices, with Ken Loach and Rebecca O'Brien lending their prestigious brand to Elham Ehsas' deeply personal archival documentary that celebrates an extraordinary piece of Afghan history previously lost to time.
Insiders note the timing is notable—Sixteen Films rarely boards shorts, making this a deliberate statement about whose stories deserve A-list backing. The fact that Momand's achievement was essentially erased from Afghan national memory raises uncomfortable questions about how governments manipulate historical narratives when regimes collapse.
Abdul Ahad Momand traveled to the Mir space station in 1988 as Afghanistan neared collapse—a journey Ehsas traces through archival footage and personal history. Elham Ehsas' short "Yellow" received a BAFTA nomination in 2024, and his most recent film "There Will Come Soft Rains" won Best Film at both Raindance and Encounters Film Festival.
Sixteen Films boarding this project signals that Ken Loach's company is willing to bet on stories that mainstream Hollywood wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole—and in doing so, they're betting that audiences are hungry for the histories empires prefer to bury.
Ken Loach and Rebecca O'Brien's production company Sixteen Films has officially boarded "Forgotten Spaceman," Elham Ehsas' documentary short about Abdul Ahad Momand—the Afghan astronaut who journeyed to the Mir space station in 1988 only to watch his nation's achievement get systematically erased from public memory as Afghanistan collapsed around him. The film, written, directed and edited by BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Ehsas, will debut at festivals later this year with Sixteen Films' institutional weight behind it.
The documentary centers on Momand's extraordinary voyage during one of the most turbulent periods in modern Afghan history—Soviet forces were withdrawing, civil war was looming, and somehow against all odds, an Afghan citizen had just spent eight days aboard a Soviet space station. Ehsas weaves archival footage with personal history to trace that legacy and surface his own connection to Momand's journey, creating what producers describe as both a historical excavation and an intimate meditation on identity.
"Abdul Ahad Momand's journey is an extraordinary and largely forgotten piece of Afghan history," Ehsas said in a statement. "I'm incredibly honored to have Sixteen Films supporting 'Forgotten Spaceman.' They have built a legacy of telling deeply human stories that too often go unseen, so their belief in this film means a great deal to me." The filmmaker has been steadily building credibility in the industry—his short "Yellow" received a BAFTA nomination in 2024, and his most recent work "There Will Come Soft Rains" won Best Film at both Raindance and Encounters Film Festival.
He also appeared in David Mackenzie's action thriller "Fuze" and served as second unit director on "The Crown." Jack Thomas-O'Brien, speaking for Sixteen Films, framed the project as exactly the kind of bold personal filmmaking the company was built to support. "'Forgotten Spaceman' is a deeply moving film about memory, identity and the histories that risk being lost," he said. "Elham is an exceptional filmmaker with a distinctive voice, and we were immediately drawn to both the extraordinary true story at the heart of the project and the humanity and sensitivity with which he approaches it." The production is completed by Lorraine Bhattachary of MonoFilm Productions—Ehsas' collaborator on "There Will Come Soft Rains"—with Catherine Tschaepe serving as executive producer. Ehsas' debut feature "Our Kind of Love" remains in development with the BFI.
