Skateistan by Orlando Von Einsiedel
Fazilla dreams of representing her country at an international sporting event
when she grows up. The only catch is that she is a skateboarder and lives in
Afghanistan.
Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul is a beautiful, verité style 16mm film about the lives of two young skateboarders from Afghanistan. Twelve-year-old Fazilla deals daily with the hardships of selling chewing gum on the street and the general discrimination Afghani girls face. However, when she is skateboarding, she forgets all her problems. Murza, a 16-year-old boy who has known nothing but a lifetime of war, cannot see the violent situation changing any time soon. But through participation in the Skateistan project, he has been able to give up working at a car wash and now has high hopes for both himself and his country’s future.
The Skateistan project is Afghanistan’s – and the world’s – first co-educational skateboarding school. The school engages growing numbers of urban and internally-displaced youth through skateboarding, and provides them with new opportunities in cross-cultural interaction, education and personal empowerment. In a country with innumerable problems, Skateistan represents an oasis where children can be children and where they can build the kinds of cross-cultural/class relationships that Afghanistan needs for future stability.
Intimate and challenging in its portrayal of the children’s stories and stunningly shot, Skateistan: To Live And Skate Kabul is an inspiring story from a country that is mostly in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Watch the Skateistan Video Diaries:
Play all episodes in this YouTube playlist.
Watch Skateistan on Doc Heads Presents...
Sunday 25th September, 9pm
Current TV
Sky 183, Virgin 155
current.com/docheads
-
- groups:
- Doc Heads Presents…, docheads films
-
- tags:
- Afghanistan, Skate, Kabul, skateistan, 1 more
