Stars: Niloufar Pazira, Hassan Tantai, Sadou Teymouri, Hayatalah Hakimi

Director: Moshen Makhmalbaf

Summary: The story of Nafas who escaped from Afghanistan to Canada when she was a child, but unfortunately her sister was accidently left behind. Nafas receives a letter from her sister stating that she has decided to kill herself on the eve of the new millennium. Nafas travels to Afghanistan to find her sister and prevent her from committing suicide...

Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf presents this partially fictionalized documentary that illustrates the suffering of Afghan women under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the year 2000. The quiet, stark, powerful film follows an Afghan native, Nafas (the stunningly beautiful Noulifar Pazira), who left Afghanistan years back and got a journalism degree in Canada, upon which she built a career reporting the plight of women in oppressive nations. When she receives a letter from her sister, who is still in Afghanistan and who has decided that she will kill herself on the night of the next eclipse, Nafas decides to sneak back inside the border to rescue her. Traveling in a Red Cross helicopter to Pakistan, where she is lead on a treacherous all-night trek across an icy river and over deadly mountains, Nafas finally crosses over the border. But from there she must get to Kandahar, with only three days left before the eclipse. As a woman in Afghanistan she cannot speak out loud, travel without a husband, or show her face, elements which make her journey nearly impossible. Disguised in a heavy head-to-toe burka (the mandatory dress for women), she begins a Kafkaesque journey across the barren land, encountering obstacles both threatening and mesmerizing along the way.

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Kandaharis a daring challenge to Afghan life. Told through the character of Nafas (Nelofer Pariza)--a young Afghan journalist who returns from Canada to save her estranged sister, who has threatened to commit suicide--it is an eye-opener about the plight of Afghan women.

On her journey to meet her sister, Nafas meets the prime features of the country--violence, disease, sexual discrimination and a terrifyingly dominant religion. The tempo of the film increases as she meets each new character. Among these are the victims of land mines who fight over prosthetic legs, the doctor who comes to the land in search of God, the many female voices silenced behind their burqas and the young boys who don't even know the meaning of the Islamic texts they memorise. The combination of vast, barren landscapes, haunting music and a poignant narrative is riveting. Mohsen Makhmalbaf, with his rustic imagery and documentary style, tells a story of great political, cultural and religious relevance in today's world.

On the DVD:Kandahar's bonus feature "Afghan Alphabet" (also made by Makhmalbaf) makes shocking revelations about the condition of Afghan refugees after the September 11 attacks. Focusing on a small group on the border of Iran and Afghanistan, it shows how deeply the Taliban regime scarred the Afghan people. --Anika Puri

Main Language:	Farsi
Region:	Region 2
Subtitles:	English
Year:	2001
Release Date:	August 26, 2002
Runtime:	85 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	I C A D 2004
Keywords:	Subtitled, General, Drama, Farsi, Kandahar, Kandehar
Genre:	Drama