The governing irony is that one cultures pop junk is anothers salvation. Sediqi travelled to Sundance to promote the documentary, and never came back. But as much as I like to think of myself as a rationalist, I think that logic is just as important as any other tool in our arsenal. Running time: 1 hour 27 minutes. Your email address will not be published. "So we'd just follow the action, turn up, drink tea, wait for the moment to shoot and leave. Your email address will not be published. Down 102,732 this week. We gave her a handycam, and so she was able to film some stuff for us. Suicide Bomb Hits Afghan Capital Days Before Security Talks. The most cocksure of the contestants, he is filmed going to the shrine of Hazrat Ali in his home city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where an imam prays for his victory. Setara now lives in Kabul with her husband, Yama. Starring: Setara Hussainzada, Lima Sahar, Hameed Sakhizada, Rafi Naabzada, Daoud Sediqi, In English, Dari, and Pashtun, with subtitles. Afghan Star. [CDATA[ Afghan Star follows the story of Hameed Sakhizada, Setara Hussainzada, Rafi Naabzada, and Lema Sahar, four Others go much further. Thats simply a case of cultural difference and is beside the point of the film, which is to examine the possibility of a show like this cutting through the regional and tribal differences of the contestants and the people voting for them. 2023 International Documentary Association. Think hard. Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company. Here, the film's tone completely changes, and as she realizes the implications of her actions the reality of modern-day Afghanistan is revealed to the film's audience. She is denounced by public officials; death threats prevent her from returning to her hometown. And all the ethnic groups were represented." Go directly to shout page. When I am performing, I am singing for the people, the feeling of freedom comes to my soul. Simon Broughton reports, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Taboo buster 2008 Afghan Star finalist Lema Sahar, who claimed the Taliban were voting for her. Starring: Rafi Naabzada, Lema Sehar, Hameed Sakhizada, Setara Hussainzada, Habib Amiri. I doubt she realizes what an impact she has had on the British documentary community. But only a few years out of Taliban-era prohibition of music, television and dance, the unapologetic spectacle of celebrity culture in a format like Afghan Star tests the limits of how far this society is willing to go, revealing cracks in the surface of the "new" Afghanistan. She then returns home to her family. The progress of last year's tumultuous series was followed by a British film crew. Despite the chaos, the hunger for music - prohibited under Taliban rule - was incredible. Conservative clerics hated her. When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1996, among their many edicts was banning popular music, considering it a corrupting and sacrilegious influence. It was her last performance on the show. But contestants on the country's answer to Pop Idol are risking not just humiliation, but their lives. Rating: . Rock the Kasbah carries a dedication to Setara Hussainzada, who did come out from under her hijab in her final performance on. In the end, 11 million people (a third of the population) tune in to watch the finale, gathering in homes, fruit shops, coffee houses and military barracks. Required fields are marked *. Setara Hussainzada, a former Afghan Star participant, was devastated when her fellow countrymen called her a woman of loose character for dancing and singing showing her hair. Sadriddin - Setara Official Mast Music Video Afghan Tajik Music 2014. Premiering on HBO2 on 26 January, the new film follows Setara's experience since her last performance on the TV show, in which she memorably danced and removed her headscarf, led to condemnation. Did you have difficulties finding funding or partners? Dont misunderstand. He is Hazara, from the centre of the country, where the Bamiyan Buddhas were blown up by the Taliban, and has an interest in traditional music. 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. Feel free to contribute! Launched in 2005, Afghan Star quickly became the most popular show in the country satiating the nation's thirst for home grown entertainment and filling a void left in the local music scene after decades of war. The film will be screened on More4 on 7 April. During this time, music was considered disrespectful and sacrilegious but the Mujahideen and the Taliban, respectively. Movies. D: Do you keep in touch with any of the subjects, or have any recent news? And this happiness even makes me feel like dancing.. Available copies. Ms. Death threats, bomb scares, battling extremists in a conservative society like Afghanistan is a daily affair. After Daoud Sediqi decides to air the footage, there is outrage in the conservative Muslim community and Setara receives death threats and is evicted from her apartment. Running time: 87 minutes. Better still, it offers the inherent drama of finding out which contestant will win. . National unity is another common topic - and there is no Simon Cowell-style humiliation. Habib Amiri, Setara Hussainzada, Rafi Naabzada, Lima Sahar, Hameed Sakhizada, Massoud Sanjer. Backstage, horrified, her fellow contestants' voices are thin when they ask, "Why is she dancing?" In this follow-up to 'Afghan Star,' filmmaker Havana Marking returns to Afghanistan to check in on infamous contestant Setara from the popular Afghan talent show of the same name. We all have power, but not all of us use it wisely. The final was watched by 11 million people, a third of the Afghan population, all voting for their favourite singer by mobile phone; for many, it was their first taste of democracy. Did it lead you to other ideas or passions? And since one of the two female contestantsSetara Hussainzadais a rule breaker who goes beyond the dictates of Islamic religion (she shows her hair and . Afghan Star is a Middle Eastern version of that program, with the difference being that in a Muslim culture, the contestants are in a real life and death struggle every day between the secularists and the devout. Taking the inflammatory convergence of democracy, modernity and pop culture in a fragile "post-war" Afghanistan as its point of departure, Afghan Star is a powerful and evocative documentary, grounded in astute . Not rated. Afghan Star. "But why should I hide it? Silencing the Song: An Afghan Fallen Star, a documentary by Havana Marking released in January 2011 revisiting Setara as she deals with continuous death threats. Its a frustratingly sketchy portrait; in the half-hour allotted her, Marking doesnt give us the wider cultural setting of a country struggling toward freedom of expression, and she may wrongly assume that a US viewer has seen Afghan Star. (The original documentary airs before the new film tonight and is highly recommended.). //-->. I came back knowing it would work logistically, and with a taster tape of engaging characters. It is one of the most disturbing scenes in the film: we see her headscarf slip as she moves - modestly - to the music. Ty Burr can be reached at tburr@globe.com. But for those who are not in that position, it can be very difficult to know how to act, who to trust, and what to believe. 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. Unrated. She crafts things perfectly and still keeps all the the spirit and emotion. The movie, which won directing and audience awards at this years Sundance, follows the shows third season, launched in October 2007, and focuses on four contestants from the more than 2,000 who auditioned. 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. HM: Setara became the main character when she danced on stage. Even her husband fears for his life to the extent of keeping the marriage secret from his family and refusing to appear on camera without his face blurred. Check out the exclusive TV Guide movie review and see our movie rating for Afghan Star He was dead, but he got up before the whole family. Setaras parents' house in Herat was daubed with words like whore on the door. Quantico, where Marines train before Afghan tours. When I returned in 2004 for another concert, a Pashtun singer had just become the first woman, post-Taliban, to sing on Afghan TV. SILENCING THE SONG: An Afghan Fallen Star, Time: tonight, 8-8:35 ; additional airings Jan. 28, Feb. 5, Feb. 22. Here are some of the ways that logic really matters in our work. Afghan Star, the TV show, is exactly what American Idol would look like if the contestants were playing for the biggest stakes imaginable: political and social freedom, gender equality, a chance to heal a country 30 years under the yokes of war and religious dictatorship. In Afghanistan, Marking worked with a very small crew: cameraman Phil Stebbing (who also did the sound), a driver, and a bodyguard (who was an Afghan wrestling champion). //