Kites

This inspirational TVNZ 7 documentary tells the story of Kabul’s budding young video producers. Embarking on a project that teaches them how to make movies, they also learn about the lives of people in their community.

Under Taliban rule, recording and showing pictures of humans was forbidden. Afghanistan is more commonly associated with a backward and warmongering existence than an artistic one. Polish director Jacek Szaranki mentors young students in a project that sees them produce films in subjects of their choosing. Capturing everyday lives, they open the door to the exploration of Afghani people beyond insurgencies, rebellions and roadside bombings.

Interestingly the subjects the students decide to film are not of barbed wire or military bases. Instead they focus the lenses on their daily lives. They film their neighbours, children flying kites and themselves, revealing normality, at times funny and at others sadly moving.

One group chooses to film a small child lying on the street begging, saying that they wanted to show the rest of the world the level of poverty being experienced in Afghanistan, but in a clash between old perspectives and new they learn that filming can sometimes provoke a negative response.