Wazhmah Osman lives in New York. Once upon a time, she lived in Afghanistan, the adored child of a middle class couple so up-to-date that they had held their wedding celebration in Kabul's impressively modern Intercontinental Hotel (see photo). But in 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan, and the lives of all of them were shattered, along with those of mil- lions of their countrymen. Trained as a psychiatrist, her father was imprisoned by the Communist regime, and after being tortured and placed in solitary confinement, emerged a different man. While his wife and family decided to flee to safety in America, he resolved to stay and fight for his country. Now, over a quarter of a century later, Wazhmah returns to Afghanistan for the first time, ready to take on the challenge- like someone weaving a complicated and intricate pattern-of simultaneously reconnecting with her childhood, exploring her country's recent history and coming to terms with the long- estranged father she's never really known. Her quest takes her to many places she remembers fondly, like her grandmother's home and the Kabul Zoo-only to find them destroyed. Coming to a new understanding of what her country lived through, she struggles to come to understand why her father chose his country over his family. He's achieved a lot-building clinics and orphanages that make a critical difference to many people. But what of the years she spent growing up without a father? Her dilemma reflects the painful history of this war-torn land, in a personal film that's full of personality.
---Katayoun Beglari-Scarlet
