Audition

Country: Canada
Year: 2008
Runtime: 55 minutes
Director: Nelofer Pazira

When Afghan-Canadian director Nelofer Pazira returns to Bamiyan, Afganistan for the screening of the award-winning film she collaborated on, The Giant Buddhas, she is shocked to see a crowd of 2,000, and astonished that many are women. Inspired, she decides to audition locals for a film. The men are eager, enthusiastically laughing and dying on command. The women are intrigued, but reticent, fearing retribution. When they do perform, it is with riveting authenticity. Pazira asks the men and women pointed questions, challenging their preconceptions and renegotiating the balance of power and control. Pazira attempts to use the cinema to hold a mirror to Afghan society to question what distortions does that mirror create?

Guest Speakers:

Nelofer Pazira, film director
Joel Roff, film producer