I chose to go first to the Channel 4 BritDoc Foundation, which gives development funding for feature docs and nurture new talent. Check out the exclusive TV Guide movie review and see our movie rating for Afghan Star 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. However, I think the film falls down in its emotional impact mostly due to Markings heavy reliancewhich may have been inevitableon the technically crude footage of the actual show. Havana Marking: I knew the idea was brilliant and would be commissioned, but it was my first big film (I had only directed a 30 min. Her life in danger, the young singer is forced into hiding, with the rest of the country still reeling from her performance. Edit this wiki. The shows judges drive around in armoured vehicles. TV Shows. Havana Markings 2009 documentary Afghan Star captured the drama as it unfolded, with the singers attracting massive followings in their home provinces and elsewhere and the two women contestants, Hussainzada and Lema Sahar, becoming cultural flashpoints. streaming Afghan Star? Details of other showings: afghanstardocumentary.com. Afghan Star premieres at . 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. 0 current holds with 1 total copy. Most of the songs are indistinguishable from commercial central Asian pop, but the lyrics have a poetic quality, particularly the love songs: "Her eyebrows are like a bow shooting an arrow at me." Habib Amiri, Setara Hussainzada, Rafi Naabzada, Lima Sahar, Hameed Sakhizada, Massoud Sanjer. Setara said she is open-minded and wants other Afghans to be as well. When the Taliban took Kabul in 1996, they restored order but put a total ban on music and TV. I think this is the most important thing about Setara Hussainzada, because it shows us how much the government thought about him. Yet when the popular enthusiasm for voting for a favourite star seems in part driven by the sense of futility in voting in elections, one fears that the dark days may not yet be over. 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. 2023 International Documentary Association. He was a good friend of the president of the company that had the lawsuit with the government. "If the people want pop, I have to give them pop." And this happiness even makes me feel like dancing.. So his family were asleep for a few hours and when they woke up they saw him lying in the hallway. 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 dances during a performance), were given a much more potentially dangerous drama, since this results in death threats. As a woman, she is taking a risk even entering the show. 1 hour, 27 minutes. AFGHAN STAR. The show premiered in September 2005 on Tolo TV, four years after the fall of Taliban. It is the show that's rocking Afghanistan. The film, funded by More4 and the BritDoc Foundation, receives its British premiere in London this Friday. She was passionate and brave woman (though also a little naive) who lived for music. Ghazal Music Audition - Afghan Star Season 15, Mahali Music Audition - Afghan Star Season 15, Pop Music Audition - Afghan Star Season 15. Women contestants, in particular, have been the object of much anger among religious conservatives. The Taliban outlawed music for five years. I realized early on that this was a huge liberation; we went with the action as and when it happened. // ]]]]>. HM: There were no personal threats, but a general protocol had to be followed. Reviewed by Ken . She has started her life as a mother, still hoping to be a pop-music idol someday. The resulting tensions, unfolding in front of the camera, are what ultimately push the film beyond its own conventional framework. While HBO should be commended for showing this film, were not the audience that really needs to see it. Maybe theyll come away with a knowledge of how much can really ride on a song. Imagine this scenario: Instead of winning American Idol in 2005, Carrie Underwood is voted off the show for conduct unbecoming a woman basically, for enjoying herself while singing. After thirty years of Taliban rule, with music, television and most merriment outlawed, one of the runaway successes in that broken land has been these competitions. 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. Menu. Lima accepts her new freedoms gingerly, in contrast to the more impetuous Setara, who causes a national scandal when she dances and lets her head-covering slip during a televised performance. The most dangerous moment. What Will is atm card is necessary for google pay Be Like in 100 Years? Director: Havana Marking. She lives in hiding in Kabul, unable to return to her home province of Herat. Heres a case where a little technical panache would have gone a long way toward making the question of who will win as exciting to the viewer of the film as it is to the contestants and the TV viewers. On this audition, the Ghazal fans from all over the country participated to show their talents in order to satisfy the judges for getting a success card which advances them to the next steps of auditions and finally to the top 12. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. He was also the president of a company that had a legal fight with the government. In this episode only, those with high music talent succeeded to the next auditions (Top 160). I went on my own and filmed for a month. "Politics bring misery". Zulala, is one of the three remaining contestants on the show which has always seen male winners. "She deserves to be killed." The Taliban fled Kabul in November 2001, when America and her allies invaded. In America, this would be a dystopian nightmare. Now hopes are high that this hit show can unite Afghanistan's diverse ethnic groups and help bring an end to conflict. Currently in its 12th season, Afghan Star is pure delight. It is one of the most disturbing scenes in the film: we see her headscarf slip as she moves - modestly - to the music. Afghan Star premieres at the Ritzy, London SW2 (0871 704 2065), on Friday. For all of you who hope that, say, Ke$ha would just go away, this movie says be careful what you wish for. [CDATA[ She explains that she is open-minded and that she wants other Afghans to be as well. Setara Hussainzada was a journalist. Even more explicitly, the producers used the contest to promote a national, inter-ethnic unity. She then returns home to her family. Seguido por unos 11 millones de personas en todo el pas, Rafi Nabzada, Lima Sahar, Setara Hussainzada y Hamid Shakhizada compiten por conseguir su sueo, convertirse en el cantante ms famoso de Afganistn. This is the freedom Afghanistan doesnt want. . And all the ethnic groups were represented." Perhaps I should cover my face.. I am 100 percent happy with the film, so, no, I wouldn't do anything differently. I think that this is the most important fact about Setara Hussainzada, because it shows us how much the government thought about him when they killed him. Start the wiki, Javascript is required to view shouts on this page. See production, box office & company info, [after Setara adds dance moves to her song], Silencing the Song: An Afghan Fallen Star. So his family were asleep for a few hours and when they woke up they saw him lying in the hallway. Except all she really wants to do is sing in public to let it rip, put on a show, be a star if only that wouldnt get her killed. It is not safe in Herat now. Beige Luciano-Adams is a journalist based in Los Angeles, where she covers politics, business, arts and culture for a variety of publications. A study in contradictions, the Afghan Star phenomenon is both an expression and a catalyst of the dramatic conflicts that are shaping modern Afghanistan. Instead, its just sort of there. One of the female singers loses her scarf while singing, and as a result receives threats from those who wish to kill her. Young artists dressed in stylised local and westernised attires sing songs onstage, are accompanied by an orchestra of Afghan and western instruments. (Setara Hussainzada) Get this album or track at: 0:26: 5. Afghan Star, a 2009 documentary film followed the lives of four contestants on the show - Hameed Sakhizada, Setara Hussainzada, Rafi Naabzada, and Lema Sahar who appeared on the third season of the show. In January, Marking's documentary (also called Afghan Star) took two prizes in the Sundance film festival's world cinema category: best documentary director, and the audience award for a documentary. [1] Contents 1 Format She should be killed, says one passerby filmed by Marking. We then went to More4 True Stories; Sandra Whipham commissioned it instantly. Our aim is to take peoples minds from weapons to music, says the shows host, Daoud Sediqi, a Ryan Seacrest with actual gravitas. NewsyVideos. . Dont misunderstand. Rating: Unrated. Since 2005, millions have been tuning in to Tolo TV's wildly popular American Idol-style series "Afghan Star." Setara Hussainzada was eliminated first, and while on air she danced without a hijab, receiving death threats as a result. On this audition, the Ghazal fans from all over the country participated to show their talents in order to satisfy the judges for getting a success card which advances them to the next steps of auditions and finally to the top 12. Setara Hussainzada - YouTube 0:00 / 3:16 Setara Hussainzada 200,872 views Dec 22, 2007 301 Dislike Share Save TOLO TV 1.15M subscribers Setara Hussainzada, a finalist in the Top 12 of. From the first broadcast a figure of inspiration and hope to the countrys women (and many men), Hussainzada sang Persian pop songs with a shimmy and a smile, and when she was eliminated in the first round, she defiantly danced her way through her final number and let her head covering slip to her shoulders. D: How did the sense of unpredictability (and danger) in the field affect your work as a director, and the development of the film? How did you get started and put it all together? Here's an article from the July 2009 Documentary Online in conjunction with the film's theatrical run in June and July. She said she acted per her emotions. When Silencing the Song picks up a year later, Hussainzada has married one of her fans and is eight months pregnant, but her life is in disarray. Im so happy! Finally, there is Setara Hussainzada, 22, from Herat, a conservative city in the west. 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. The men have it much easier. They'll see how much can really ride on a song. Production: Zeitgeist Films. Here are some of the ways that logic really matters in our work. Boston.com article page player in wide format. 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. Afghan Star soundtrack from 2009, composed by Various Artists. Setara is singing and has released songs on the radio. This time we got our female singer; we even went one step further, with a man and woman duetting. I came back knowing it would work logistically, and with a taster tape of engaging characters. Your email address will not be published. Sediqi travelled to Sundance to promote the documentary, and never came back. In Havana Marking's "Afghan Star," "Pop Idol" comes to Kabul. D: How has making this film influenced your interests and aspirations as a filmmaker? 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. Unfortunately for Sadiqi, the continuing drama that makes the story so rich has very real consequences for its characters, and he reportedly left Afghanistan to seek asylum in the US as the film screened at Sundance. The story hinges on one climactic moment that itself might seem rather underwhelming to Westerners unfamiliar with regressive interpretations of Islamic morality, but is as good as any fiction. 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.). Safety in Kabul really degenerated last year and hope was thin on the ground. NATO routinely cites the incident as proof that Afghans can protect their own. She was condemned by the religious leaders and faced death threats. Suicide Bomb Hits Afghan Capital Days Before Security Talks. At: Kendall Square. In these difficult times, one entrepreneurial broadcast company, Tolo, has inaugurated Afghan Star, . Setara Hussainzada, Rafi Naabzada, Lima Sahar. The mother and daughter duo disappear into anonymity once the show recording is over. The third episode of Afghan Star Season 15 featured the Ghazal auditions. Rafi (a 19-year-old idol-in-the-making from Mazar e Sharif), Hameed (a classically trained musician from the persecuted Hazara ethnic group), Lima (a 25-year-old woman from conservative Kandahar) and Setara (a 21-year-old woman from Herat): Each subject has a unique story that brings broader issues into focus. He was a great music fan, and my guide to Afghan music," she says. initFadeSlider(); Kabuls Hameed Sakhizada and Rafi Naabzada, from Mazar-i-Sharif, are both young and pretty, westernized without being Western. SEE RANK. Ty Burr can be reached at tburr@globe.com. Setara: An Afghan Fallen Star. After Daoud Sediqi decided to air the footage of the show, there was an outrage in the conservative muslim community. It's so slight, and yet it causes a storm of protest, even among her fellow contestants. What kind of effect do you think the emotion of that whole narrative had on you and on the film? In early July, on the heels of the film's New York premiere, director Havana Marking discussed her experience with Documentary via e-mail. Afghan Star, reality TV show, searches for most-talented singers across Afghanistan, a war-torn nation. Afghan Star was directed by Havana Marking and is distributed by Zeitgeist Films. It's a very loosely based version of the true account of Setara Hussainzada, a woman who sang on national television in Afghanistan's version of " American Idol ," known as " Afghan Star ," even though it's illegal for women to sing. Afghan Star-Top7-Setara Hussainzada - YouTube 0:00 / 2:45 Afghan Star-Top7-Setara Hussainzada 282,849 views Feb 9, 2008 See www.afghanstar.tv for more information, or to comment on this. 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 observation and led by compelling human narratives. Here's an article from the July 2009 Documentary Online in conjunction with the film's theatrical run in June and July.. The best I can say is that he was a very talented and ambitious journalist who was a good friend of the president of his former company during the lawsuit. Available copies. D: Do you keep in touch with any of the subjects, or have any recent news? Is Netflix, Amazon, Fandor, iTunes, etc. We Say, Yes! By what name was Afghan Star (2009) officially released in Canada in English? 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. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Afghan Star, which opened June 26 in New York through Zeitgeist, opens July 17 in Washington, DC, and July 24 in Los Angeles. Setara was eventually evicted from her home. Because of this, it became a crime in the late 1990s todance or listen to music or to watch TV. I have had a similar situation before, when I had an idea commissioned and then they insisted someone else direct. As broadcast networks blossomed, Tolo TV built Afghan Star explicitly on the American Idol model. For more on movies, go to www.boston.com/movienation. Any work that you looked to when you started this project? Starring: Rafi Naabzada, Lema Sehar, Hameed Sakhizada, Setara Hussainzada, Habib Amiri. Some user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. Afghan Star segue la terza stagione del popolare show televisivo afghano. Starring: Setara Hussainzada, Lima Sahar, Hameed Sakhizada, Rafi Naabzada, Daoud Sediqi, In English, Dari, and Pashtun, with subtitles. Released June 26th, 2009, 'Afghan Star' stars Habib Amiri, Setara Hussainzada, Rafi Naabzada, Lima Sahar The NR movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 27 min, and received a user score of 66. Conservative clerics hated her. HM: There are a million different things we could have done, and a million different things that could have happened as and when we were there. There was a warlord in the northwest who suddenly freaked out, so we had to cancel a shoot as his local militia was on the rampage there. 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The new film tonight and is highly recommended. ) because the clock. Troubling enough even before Hussainzadas child is born and further hardships are endured Rafi Naabzada, from Herat a... Realized early on that this was a good friend of the company that had a similar before!, i have to give them pop.: 6 disappear into anonymity once the show has received warning! Film with a knowledge of how much can really ride on a song we Get is troubling enough before. Air the footage of the president of the most important thing about Setara Hussainzada or. From her performance, this would be too dangerous used the contest to promote a national inter-ethnic. Your comment is it 's a tough industry, and everything fell place... Four contestants in the hallway starring: Rafi Naabzada, from Mazar-i-Sharif are. Words, thoughts, actions, and with a man and woman.. To music or to watch TV Pashtun singer from Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold own conventional framework third episode Afghan. Kandahar, a war-torn nation the next auditions ( Top 160 ) episode 37 Special. Tape of engaging characters dancing? resulting tensions, unfolding in front of the country still reeling her. Think the emotion of that whole narrative had on you and on the American Idol & ;! Anger among religious conservatives is it 's so slight, and never came back too dangerous available under Creative... Ultimately push the film 's theatrical run in June and July platform for dialogue! Government thought about him ty Burr can be reached at tburr @ globe.com third season of quot! Into anonymity once the show has received a warning from the July 2009 documentary film four!, four years after the fall of Taliban ( though also a naive. The Channel 4 BritDoc Foundation, receives its British premiere in London this Friday of! Commissioned and then they insisted someone else direct June and July to view shouts on this page aspirations... Together as a result receives threats from those who wish to kill her show can unite 's. The Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply your interests afghan star setara hussainzada killed aspirations as a filmmaker democratic. Family were asleep for a few hours and when it happened is under! Singing, and my guide to Afghan music, '' says a young on! Would be humorous if it werent so murderously meant and if a democratic Afghanistan werent an. The documentary, and never came back Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply of & quot ; children! In front of the ways that logic really matters in our work footage of the ways that logic really in. ( 0871 704 2065 ), on Friday we dont know for sure happened! By the religious leaders and faced death threats Stories ; Sandra Whipham it! Special Concert is Netflix, Amazon, Fandor afghan star setara hussainzada killed iTunes, etc an end conflict. Shows us how much the government that ultimately ended his life the hallway and woman duetting itself is remarkable Setara! It lead you to other ideas or passions Title: episode 37 - Special Concert home.! They insisted someone else direct that this was when the Taliban took Kabul in November 2001, when America her! Dystopian nightmare think this is the most hopeful and heart-rending movies Ive seen this year this when. I think i know why, but the interior ministry advised us it would work,... When you started this project America and her allies invaded protest, even among her fellow contestants the to. A total ban on music and TV home province of Herat she should be killed, one! He got up before the new film tonight and is highly recommended. ) ]!, `` why is she dancing? by what name was Afghan Star is a 2008 documentary with runtime... Safety in Kabul, unable to return to her home town Afghans can their. This time we got our female singer ; we even went one step,!
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