Film Review - Tales of the Taliban in courageous film (From Western Telegraph)

Film Review - Tales of the Taliban in courageous film

Gwyl Ffilm Mwldans Film Festival at Theatr Mwldan, Cardigan, this month is showing an exceptional film which is bound to be the highlight of this years film festival, which always proves to be extremely popular and culturally rich and exhilarating.

Kandahar is a stunning film made all the more remarkable by its timing and prescience.

Secretly researched by the director in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and filmed on the border, it is an eloquent and courageous attack on the Talibans treatment of women that opens Western eyes to the reality behind the media headlines.

With only three copies of the film in the UK at present, this is a rare opportunity to see the film in Wales.

Based on a true story, Kandahar tells of Nafas, a young female Afghan journalist who fled to Canada during the Taliban civil war. She receives a desperate letter from her younger sister in Afghanistan who has decided to end her life before the imminently approaching eclipse of the sun.

Nafas decides to go to help her sister in Kandahar and attempts to cross the Iran-Afghanistan border.

Theatr Mwldan describes this as a fantastic, urgent and accessible movie of haunting power, one that involves us on a deeper emotional level and adds to our experience and understanding. Visually it contains some extraordinarily beautiful and unforgettable images, which make the film glow with human spirit, but all are deployed in the service of a passionate plea for all of Afghanistans victims.

The Gwyl Ffilm Mwldan Film Festival begins on January 18th, and has 13 days packed with brilliant films. Other films to look out for are: The Circle, a powerful indictment of the oppression suffered by women in Iran; the much adored Amelle; David Mamets new film Heist; Ken Loachs The Navigato; and locally filmed Byw Yn Dy Groen (Cross Cunents) plus lots more.

Gwyl Ffilm Mwldan Film Festival is from January 18th - 31st. To book seats in advance or for a free programme, ring the Box Office on (01239) 621200 or call into the theatre.