Yussuf Janessar is an Afghan documentary filmmaker and a photographer, and the founder of the press agency Ariana. He was one of the most important camera operator working for Ahmad Shah Massoud from 1986 until the death of the commander in September 2001. He was around 15 years old when he joined the mujahideen forces under Massoud command. Since Yussuf was too young to carry a Kalashnikov, Massoud gave him a camera to film the military operations. Then, he recorded for Massoud the wars against the Soviet army, against the pro-soviet regime, during the civil war in Kabul, and during the war against the Taliban. With the support of INA (French National Institute for Audiovisual), he has digitalized a part of the 4.000 hours of films he recorded during the last 30 years. One of his projects is the construction of the Visual Memory Center of Ahmad Shah Massoud in the Panjshir Valley, in order to preserve these images and to make them accessible.
