In 1991 he made "Afghan Breakdown", a Soviet-Italian film about the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan with Michele Placido in the lead, critical of the Soviet military activity. During the troubled shooting that started in Tajikistan in 1990 one of the team members, Nikita Matrosov, was killed by Tajik ultra-nationalists following the 1990 Dushanbe riots. According to Bortko, most of their equipment was destroyed as well, the team was evacuated, and the shooting was finished in Crimea and Syria.