Riz Ahmed Backs Afghan Astronaut Doc 'Forgotten Spaceman' as Exec Producer

Riz Ahmed is putting his name behind Forgotten Spaceman, Elham Ehsas' short documentary about Abdul Ahad Momand, Afghanistan's first and only astronaut. Deadline reports Ahmed has signed on as an executive producer. Ken Loach's Sixteen Films is among the film's producers.

The short has already played Locarno, Toronto and the BFI London Film Festival, and it just picked up Best Documentary at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival. Screenings continue at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and beyond. The film is both Oscar and BAFTA qualified.

Forgotten Spaceman follows Momand's 1988 trip to space aboard a Soviet mission, tracing his story alongside Afghanistan's during that era. Ehsas wrote and directed it, and wove in his own family: his father was the first person to interview Momand after he came back to Earth.

Ahmed, who won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2022 for The Long Goodbye, said the film goes past the usual headlines. In a statement, he praised Ehsas for making the story personal through his family's experience of displacement, adding that he's proud to support the team as its run continues. Ehsas called Ahmed's involvement a real honor, saying he has spent his career championing stories that might otherwise slip through the cracks.

Ehsas is no stranger to awards season: his previous short, Yellow, was BAFTA-nominated and made the Academy Awards shortlist in 2024. Ahmed joins an executive producer group that includes Jack Thomas-O'Brien of Sixteen Films, Catherine Tschaepe, Sharib Khan and Vikas Kumar of Khan & Kumar Media, and Shruti Ganguly, Priya Giri Desai and Megha Kadakia of Prism Entertainment.