Kandahar (2001 film)

Kandahar
Directed byMohsen Makhmalbaf
Written byMohsen Makhmalbaf
Produced byMohsen Makhmalbaf
StarringNelofer Pazira
Sadou Teymouri
Hoyatala Hakimi
Dawud Salahuddin (Hassan Tantai)
CinematographyEbrahim Ghafori
Edited byMohsen Makhmalbaf
Music byMohammad Reza Darvishi
Distributed byAvatar Films
Release date
  • 11 May 2001 (2001-May-11) (Cannes)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryIran
LanguagesDari language
English
Pashto
Polish

Kandahar (Dari: قندهار, "Qandahar") is a 2001 Iranian film directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, set in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban. Its original Afghan title is Safar-e Ghandehar (سفر قندهار), which means "Journey to Kandahar", and it is alternatively known as The Sun Behind the Moon. The film is based on a partly true, partly fictionalized story of Nafas, a successful Afghan-Canadian woman played by Nelofer Pazira.

The film recounts the attempts of Nafas to return to Afghanistan after receiving a letter from her sister, who was left behind when the family escaped from Afghanistan years earlier. Nafas makes this desperate mission in an effort to rescue her sister, who has written in her letter that she plans to commit suicide on the last solar eclipse of the millennium.

Kandahar was filmed mostly in Iran, including at the Niatak refugee camp,[1] but also secretly in Afghanistan itself.[2] Most people, including Nelofer Pazira, played themselves.

  1. ^ Mario Falsetto, Liza Béar. The Making of Alternative Cinema: Beyond the frame : dialogues with world filmmakers. Praeger, 2008. ISBN 0-275-99941-6, ISBN 978-0-275-99941-4. Pg 227
  2. ^ Ingman, Marrit (1 March 2002). "Kandahar - Movie Review". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 28 August 2021.