The crowdsourced money will now go to Fawad's education. The campaign had raised $10,000 before the US Embassy in Kabul and Turkish Airlines offered to cover the flight and other expenses of the trip. News reports generated by the nomination, most of them about the difficulties of filming in a war zone, multiplied after the Afghan Film Project, the non-governmental organisation that made the film, launched a 'crowdfunding' campaign to get the two young stars to the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The young stars of Slumdog Millionaire are still living in Mumbai squalor.Īt least, the boys of Buzkashi Boys can bask in their moment of glory. The children who appeared in The Kite Runner had to leave Afghanistan, for their own safety. Can the actors find fame as their characters strive to do? Will the boys - Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz, both now 14 - be launched into successful careers, and saved from the trials of constant war? The precedents are not good. Yet I can't help but wonder if art will imitate life. The film is gorgeous to watch, and brings back memories of a place where I spent over four years as a journalist before leaving in September. The film features some of the Afghan capital's most dramatic landmarks: the bombed-out palace of Darulaman, the bus graveyard and the Dickensian streets of Murad Khane (the 'old city') where the blacksmith's shop is. Top players are venerated as heroes and achieve considerable status and wealth by Afghan standards. The 29-minute Buzkashi Boys is about a street urchin and a blacksmith's son who dream of escaping the grind of their daily lives and achieving stardom by playing the national game.īuzkashi is fast and furious: players on horseback battle for control of a goat carcass.

A film made in Kabul, by a US director, is up for an Oscar this weekend, in the Live Action Short Film category.īut win or lose, many of Afghanistan's artists will be asking if this film project will be more than a one-off. Afghans need good news these days, and some may be arriving from a distant place: Hollywood.

Gutchers quick print