As the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan continue, effectively ending the 20-year war, award-winning filmmakers Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi timely film My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan will open in theaters on August 27th.

The film will screen August 27 – September 2 (inclusive) at Laemmle Newhall. 22500 Lyons Ave, Santa Clarita, CA 91321 and Laemmle Monica Film Center. 1332 2nd Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401

Mirroring Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, the film follows Afghan named Mir over the past 20 years, beginning as a seven year old boy living in a cave.

In 2014 director Richard Linklater released the Oscar-winning Boyhood – a fictional saga of growing up, filmed with the same cast across twelve years. This film goes one better: filming one cheeky lad growing up across 20 years – and in one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

When we first meet Mir he is a mischievous boy of seven living in a cave alongside the recently destroyed Buddhas of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan.

For two decades, though all sorts of adventures and misadventures, the film follows his life until, as an adult with a family of his own, he decides to pursue his own career as a news cameraman in Kabul. The film, however, is more than a personal journey – it is an extraordinarily powerful examination of what has – and has not – been achieved in Afghanistan over the past 20 years.

Watch the trailer for My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan.