Kandahar
Winter 2002 Main series
Sunday, March 10, 2002 at 7:00pm
Empire Theatres, New Minas, NS
Directed by
Starring
Rated NR ·
1h 25m
Iran
Farsi
Premiering at Cannes, Kandahar is the latest film from Iranian master Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Nafas (Niloufar Pazira) is a young Afghan journalist who took refuge in Canada after her country’s civil war with the Taliban began. She reluctantly returns to her oppressive homeland after receiving a desperate letter from her younger sister, who has decided to end her life just before the last solar eclipse of the 20th century. With only two days left to get to Kandahar in time to save her sister, Nafas quickly runs out of options at the Irano-Afghan border. With US dollars and a pocket tape recorder for a diary, Nafas no sooner finds a driver to take her straight to Kandahar than the vehicle is hijacked, forcing her to go the rest of the way by foot. Guided by a string of unique characters, Nafas gives her soul to the arduous journey, passing through the desert’s dry poppies and hidden minefields in hopes of providing a miracle. Kandahar is a dazzling odyssey through an ancient land filled with startling, often surreal images; a place where one woman hopes to give her isolated sister 1000 reasons to live.
“Visually exalting. The first major film to describe…the current suffering and oppression in vivid, inescapable terms.” – Variety
“The best film at the Cannes Film Festival 2001.” – Time Magazine
“Visually fanciful and politically urgent.” – Liam Lacey, The Globe and Mail
“A rare gift that takes us to a place where the news doesn’t go.” – Maclean’s Magazine