Welcome to the Hot Docs screening schedule, where you can browse all of the films in this year’s festival.
Use the tabs below to browse films by title, program, or by date and time. And, you can use the MY HOT DOCS tab to build your own personal schedule.
You can purchase passes to the festival; and you can buy tickets to individual screenings here.
Dir(s): Havana Marking
Program: Special Presentations
Run Time: 90 | UK | Language: (Subtitled in English) Dari English Pashtun
View the trailer for Afghan Star on the Hot Docs YouTube channel
After 30 years of war and a ban on music and dancing under Taliban rule, pop culture is back in Afghanistan. Millions are watching Afghan Star, an American Idol-style vocal competition. You know the drill: thousands audition, a dozen make the finals, then viewers whittle down the roster of contestants until only one is left. But this is more than a glossy copycat show. Music holds special cultural import to Afghans, who have gone decades without art or public performance. So although Afghan Star is entertaining TV first and foremost, it also symbolizes freedom of expression and peace. Voting by cell phone is a novelty to many-their first encounter with the democratic process. When a female competitor dances on stage and drops her headscarf, there's talk of retribution and threats of an honour killing. In Afghanistan, you risk more than YouTube humiliation when you sing; you risk your life. Angie Driscoll.
Co-presented with Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
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Watch filmmaker interview:
Director(s) : Havana Marking
Producer(s) : Havana Marking
Executive Producer(s) : Mike Lerner, Martin Herring, Jahid Mohseni
Cinematographer(s) : Phil Stebbing
Editor(s) : Ash Jenkins
Afghan Star deals with the following subjects: Afghani Cultures & Issues, Journalists & the Media, Music & Musicians, Popular Culture, Women’s Issues, Youth
Afghan Star will be presented at the following times and locations.
| Time | Films | Venue | Tickets | Calendar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:15 pm Wed, May 6 |
Not Available |
Add Screening | ||
| 11:00 am Fri, May 8 |
Not Available |
Add Screening |
The following titles are in the Special Presentations category along with Afghan Star.
People who added Afghan Star to their My Hot Docs calendar also added the following films.
Click on any of the links below to submit this page to the respective website.
On the day of the screening, tickets are available at the venue’s box office starting one hour before the first screening of the day.
For screenings that have sold out in advance, a limited number of rush tickets may be available at the screening venue’s box office ten minutes before the screening time, subject to availability.
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