Independent distributor Avatar Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to “Kandahar” (“The Sun Behind The Moon”), the new feature from Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The film was shot on location at the border between Afghanistan and Iran and offers a harrowing look at the life of women under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
“Kandahar,” which won the Ecumenical Jury Prize and was nominated for the Golden Palm at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, mixes fiction and documentary-style filmmaking in a stunning story of a woman’s journey through Afghanistan to find her sister in the city of Kandahar (which has been front-and-center in the news as the Taliban stronghold and the target of U.S. bombing raids). Since Taliban law prevents women from traveling on their own, the film’s heroine relies on the kindness of strangers to guide her across the country so she can reach her goal.
Makhmalbaf is best known to American audiences as the director of “Gabbeh” and the writer of “The Day I Became a Woman.” He is the father of Samira Makhmalbaf, the director of the controversial Iranian drama “The Apple.”
Avatar Films is best known for its art house success “Nico and Dani” and for the documentaries “Bookwars,” “The Art of Amalia,” and “New York in the Fifties.” Its next release, “Keeping it Real: The Adventures of Greg Walloch,” opens in New York on November 9 before going into national release.
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