Osama

Osama 2004

7.00

After the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the restriction of women in public life, a preteen girl is forced to masquerade as a boy in order to find work to support her mother and grandmother.

2004

Three Songs for Benazir

Three Songs for Benazir 2021

6.23

The story of Shaista, a young man who—newly married to Benazir and living in a camp for displaced persons in Kabul—struggles to balance his dreams of being the first from his tribe to join the Afghan National Army with the responsibilities of starting a family. Even as Shaista’s love for Benazir is palpable, the choices he must make to build a life with her have profound consequences.

2021

An Afghan Love Story

An Afghan Love Story 2013

6.50

It’s snowing in Kabul, and gregarious waiter Mustafa charms a pretty student named Wajma. The pair begin a clandestine relationship—they’re playful and passionate but ever mindful of the societal rules they are breaking. After Wajma discovers she is pregnant, her certainty that Mustafa will marry her falters, and word of their dalliance gets out. Her father must decide between his culturally held right to uphold family honor and his devotion to his daughter.

2013

The Orphanage

The Orphanage 2019

7.10

A historic drama with musical Bollywood scenes. Kabul in the early 90s. Soviet values rule the country. Women can wear miniskirts, children can go to school and people can go to the cinema, concerts as well as universities. Life in Afghanistan is similar to life in the Western world. 14 years old Qodrat sells cinema tickets on the black market in the streets of Kabul. After selling a ticket to a secret police officer by mistake, he ends up at the Soviet orphanage, where he fakes his identity at the registration, in hope of getting more power. Everyday life for Qodrat is about friendships, falling in love, doing naughty things and going on adventures – just like it is for children in other parts of the world. However, behind the safe walls of the orphanage the world they once knew is drastically changing as the Mujahideens start the civil war.

2019

Kamay

Kamay 2024

1

In the remote mountains of central Afghanistan, a Hazara family embarks on a journey for truth and justice after their daughter Zahra mysteriously dies at Kabul University. Told through the eyes of Zahra's younger sister, Freshta, the film is a moving contemplation of love, loss, and perseverance in spite of increasing unrest on the eve of the Taliban takeover of the country.

2024

Laila at the Bridge

Laila at the Bridge 2018

1

In a country offering almost no treatment services despite a crisis of addiction, Laila Haidari took the highly unusual decision to found her own pioneering addiction treatment center and a restaurant where all of the waiters are recovering heroin addicts. A deeply personal perspective on the global addiction epidemic, the film follows the labor of love of one woman fighting to keep her center alive in the face of physical threats, governmental opposition and the departure of the international community from Afghanistan.

2018

When Pomegranates Howl

When Pomegranates Howl 2021

7.00

Shot on the streets of Kabul, Granaz Moussavi’s (My Tehran For Sale) outstanding new feature is in the tradition of the great child-centred works of the 1980s when filmmakers such as Kiarostami, Panahi and Amir Naderi (to whom this film is dedicated) were putting Iranian cinema in the forefront of world production. 9-year-old Hewad is an irrepressible, street-smart kid who is energetically working every angle, hustling everything from pomegranate juice to amulets to protection from the evil eye. His real ambition is to be a movie star, and this comes a step closer when he meets an Australian photographer. But in a city where every family has a member who has been “martyred,” the streets are as perilous as they are vivid. Australia’s recent involvement with Afghanistan has been mixed, to say the best. The deeply-felt humanism of this film might just be our most effective contribution to that troubled country.

2021

Etilaat Roz

Etilaat Roz 2022

5.00

For ten years, the journalists of the Etilaat Roz have been making the most widely circulated daily newspaper in Kabul—entirely transparent, and constantly on the lookout for abuses in society and politics. But what do you do when this work becomes practically impossible? This film follows the team as the city is recaptured by the Taliban.

2022

Earth and Ashes

Earth and Ashes 2004

6.10

Elderly Dastaguir and his newly deaf 5-year-old grandson Yassin hitchhike and walk, but mostly walk, as they make their way to the coal mine where Dastaguir's son Murad works. Dastaguir must tell Murad that the rest of their family were all killed in a recent bomb attack.

2004

Voice of a Nation: My Journey Through Afghanistan

Voice of a Nation: My Journey Through Afghanistan 2013

1

Jawed Taiman takes a distinct look at Afghanistan and lets the Afghan people have their say. En route through the different provinces, through urban and rural regions, in discussion with intellectuals and simple folk, politicians and Taliban fighters a multifaceted picture emerges of a country that is often portrayed as incomprehensible.

2013

No Good Men

No Good Men 1970

1

A young camera operator falls head-over-heels in love with a married TV reporter, who is twice her age. The clash between intense love and the beliefs of Afghan society creates 'unheard' ways of being together and handling romantic life.

1970

Adam Khor

Adam Khor 1991

1

Horrible hairy behemoth on a gruesome rampage in this wild Pashto shocker (http://thehotspotcafe.net)

1991

Midnight Traveler

Midnight Traveler 2019

5.90

In 2015, the Taliban put a price on the head of Hassan, a filmmaker, who was forced to flee Afghanistan with his wife and two young daughters. Using their camera phones, the fugitives show first-hand the many dangers refugees face when seeking asylum in a safe place.

2019

Son of a Lion

Son of a Lion 2007

6.00

In the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, a widowed father expects his only son to follow in his footsteps. Darra Adam Khel is home to the ethnic Pashtuns. The local industry is the handcrafting of firearms. It has been this way since long before the war on terror. Eleven-year-old Niaz Afridi works with his father learning how to make and test weapons just as Sher Alam learnt from his father before him. But Niaz doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps. He wants to go to school.

2007

Haseena Atom Bomb

Haseena Atom Bomb 1990

5.00

Trashy Lollywood flick follows a young woman who on her wedding night, is raped by a gang of criminals. She’s then forced to endure the torment of watching her husband to-be, beaten and hung from the rafters using only her shoulders to keep him grasping onto life. When she eventually collapses he falls to his death sending her on a killing vendetta.

1990

Khate Sewom

Khate Sewom 1970

1

Story of young students from diverse cultures and from different Afghan ethnic groups, who make their worldviews and theories and are struggling with severe contradictions and challenges that disrupt the order of their daily lives.

1970

Afghanistan's Next Top Model

Afghanistan's Next Top Model 1970

1

In 2007, a local TV station in Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan aired a reality television show modeled after the America's Next Top Model. International media took notice and dubbed the show Afghanistan's Next Top Model.

1970

Baghch-e-Simsim

Baghch-e-Simsim 1970

1

Baghch-e-Simsim is a Pashto and Dari children's television series based on the American Sesame Street, which was officially launched in Afghanistan on December 1, 2011. Characters appearing will include Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Grover as Kajkoal, and Ernie as Hadi along with Bert. However, it was reported that Oscar the Grouch and Count von Count will not be featured due to cultural differences. The project is funded by the Embassy of the United States in Kabul and is produced in consultation with Afghanistan's Ministry of Education. The show's producer is Tania Farzana, an Afghan-American, and its initial 26 half-hour episodes are being aired in Dari language on locally owned Tolo TV. The Pashto version will be aired on Lemar TV. Education in Afghanistan is very low and Baghch-e-Simsim is designed to help with that, especially Afghan children because about 45% of the population is younger than 15. Sesame Street was first introduced to Afghanistan in 2004 as Koche Sesame, which was shown on state-owned television and as a teaching tool within some schools in the form of DVDs. One of the segments was "Grover Around the World", based directly on the Global Grover segments of the American original. The new Baghch-e-Simsim version "will be partly filmed in Afghanistan with the rest lifted from other versions in Muslim countries including Egypt and Bangladesh", as well as Mexico and Russia.

1970

Afghan Star

Afghan Star 1970

1.00

Afghan Star is a popular reality television show which searches for the most talented singers across Afghanistan. The program is broadcast on Tolo TV channel.

1970

Ganjina

Ganjina 1970

1

Ganjina is the Afghani version of the television gameshow Deal or No Deal. It premiered on May 30, 2010 and is broadcast on Tolo TV. The show was earlier hosted by the afghani actor Rahim Mehrzad and was later taken over by Mukhtar Lashkari. There are 20 boxes containing prizes from 1 Afghani to 1,000,000 Afghani. There has been three top prize winners. The last episode was aired on May 14, 2013. From May 15 to June 6, 2013 was a rerun of notable episodes, including celebrity editions and two of the top prize winning episodes. On June 8, 2013, the show was replaced by new game show 100 saniye, an Afghani adaption of Divided.

1970

مهر مادری

مهر مادری 2020

1

It is a joint Iranian-Afghan series that depicts the love story and immigration problems of several young people and immigrant families in Germany.

2020

Tabassom

Tabassom 2019

1

Social humor about the living conditions of Afghans living in Europe. Writer and director Khalil Yousefi Actors Saeed Hooshmand Nilab Nova Diana Mirza

2019