Afghan Star

Afghan Star, a documentary that follows Afghanistan's version of American Idol, just won a Sundance award and is now in major cities across America. The film description:

After thirty years of war and five devastating years of Taliban rule, pop culture is beginning to return to Afghanistan and millions are tuning in to the wildly popular American Idol–style television competition Afghan Star. Two thousand people audition to compete for a cash prize and a record deal, and when viewers vote for their favorites via cell phone it is, for many, their first encounter with the democratic process. Winner of the Directing and Audience Awards in Sundance’s 2009 World Documentary competition, Havana Marking’s timely and moving film follows the dramatic stories of four young finalists—two men and two women—as they hazard everything and even risk their lives to become the nation’s favorite performer. By observing the Afghani people’s relationship to its pop culture, Afghan Star is the perfect window into a country’s tenuous, ongoing struggle for modernity. What Americans consider frivolous entertainment is downright revolutionary in this troubled part of the world.

The television show is hugely popular and a great example of the idiosyncrasies that characterize Afghan life. Check out the website to see when it will be showing near you. It begins in Washington, DC on July 17 at the E St. Cinema. See you there!