Afghanistan : le parfumeur de Jalalabad
Elodie Pakosz
2007 - 18 min - Beta digital - Couleur - France

Flowers for opium!
Afghanistan: in this country traumatized by suicide bombers and where the Taliban have been making a comeback after being overthrown six years ago, a young Frenchman has begun an incredible venture. At 31, Mathieu Beley cultivates orange blossoms, jasmine and roses in Jalalabad, a 3 hour-30 minute drive from Kabul, to make perfume.
A graduate of France’s HEC business college who spent time in Silicon Valley, he gave everything up to grow flowers in Afghanistan. Most importantly, he persuaded peasants to give up cultivating poppies – from which opium is produced – for his production of high value added essential oils. A courageous, original undertaking in a country that is responsible for 93% of the production of the world’s deadliest drug: heroine.