Afghan Star (2009)

Director:

Havana Marking

Release Date:

26 June 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A look at how contestants on the a musical contest program "Pop Idol" in Afghanistan risk their lives to appear on the show. |

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Habib Amiri	...	Himself
Setara Hussainzada	...	Herself
Rafi Naabzada	...	Himself
Lima Sahar	...	Herself (as Lema Sahar)
Hameed Sakhizada	...	Himself
Massoud Sanjer	...	Himself
Daoud Sediqi	...	Himself
Tahir Shaqi	...	Himself
Fazl Hadi Shinwari	...	Himself

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Pashtu | Dari

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Afghanistan

Company:

Aria Productions

Trivia:

United Kingdom's official submission to 82nd Academy Award's Foreign Language in 2010.

Movie Connections:

References "Afghan Star" (2005)

A kind of progress

Most of us are familiar with the images of Afghanistan at war, or under the Taliban; but until the rebellion against the Soviet invasion, the country was a relatively modern state, at least in the capital. As the nation attempts to find peace after decades of conflict, 'Afghan Star' follows the screening of a 'Pop Idol' style television program, apparently gripping the nation. The show is hardly racy by Western standards; indeed, with men in dodgy suits and understandably limited production values, the program feels as if it could have been made in the 1970s, before the wars started. But what we see in this film is how strikingly, and tragically, Afghanistan has moved backwards in the intervening years; and how a latent national enthusiasm for having fun is pitched against a deep set religiosity, sometimes within the same individuals. When one of the female contestants takes off her headscarf to sing, one feels a little uneasy; as an outsider, one can only guess at the true nature of the risks she is taking. In my own country, I tend to decry this kind of cheap entertainment, and there's a sense in which the reactionaries have a point when they lament the invasion of foreign culture; but they offer only regression and ignorance as an alternative. Yet when the popular enthusiasm for voting for a favourite star seems in part driven by the sense of futility in voting in elections, one fears that the dark days may not yet be over.