Afghan girl's struggle for learning showcased at Spain film fest

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2007

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AFP) — A young Afghan girl's harrowing struggle for an education in the shadow of the destroyed Bamiyan Buddhas is chronicled in a Franco-Iranian film screened Saturday at the oldest and most prestigious film festival in the Spanish-speaking world.

Set in central Afghanistan's Bamiyan valley, where the Taliban blew up the two giant Buddhas in 2001, "Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame" is "a very uncompromising film that shows the influence of real life on children," the San Sebastian festival's director Mikel Olaciregui told AFP.

Directed by 18-year-old Hana Makhmalbaf, who comes from a family of Iranian filmmakers, "Buddha" tells the tale of Baktay, who is convinced by the son of a neighbor that she should go to school.

On her way, she...