Lisbeth Koutchoumoff & Wolgrand Ribeiro
Switzerland | 2014 | 52 min
World premiere
Languages : French, Persian
Subtitles : French, English
After almost twenty years of exile in Switzerland, Afghan music star Ustad Arman goes back to Kabul in order to take part as a juror in the hugely popular musical reality show “Afghan Star”. Painfully aware of what is going on in his country, Ustad Arman accepts to make the long trip back because he guards a dream in his heart.
After almost twenty years of exile in Switzerland, Afghan music star Ustad Arman goes back to Kabul in order to take part as a juror in the hugely popular musical reality show “Afghan Star”. Behind the façade of a show whose aim is to help people forget the harsh and violent reality of a war that seems to go on forever, there is a clear political project: the show is mainly a by-product of the so-called Pax Americana. Painfully aware of what is going on in his country, Ustad Arman accepts to make the long trip back. As the last keeper of the flame of the Afghan traditional musical heritage, he wants this history to go on. He wants to bestow it upon the younger generations, because more than thirty years of war have almost destroyed the memory of what once was Afghan music. It is with mixed feelings that Ustad Arman sets foot on his beloved homeland, trying to revive a very important part of the Afghan cultural legacy while haunted by memories of loss and longing.
Giona A. Nazzaro
