Buzkashi Boys

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Buzkashi Boys
Buzkashi Boys poster.png
Film poster
Directed bySam French [1]
Written by Martin Desmond Roe [1]
Produced by Ariel Nasr [2]
StarringFawad Mohammadi [1]
Jawanmard Paiz [1]
Wali Talash [1]
Music by Jim Dooley [1]
Production
companies
Afghan Film Project [1]
Development Pictures
Distributed by ShortsHD [3] [4]
Release date
  • December 7, 2012 (2012-12-07)(Santa Fe International Film Festival)
[5]
Running time
29 minutes
CountriesAfghanistan
United States
Language Dari

Buzkashi Boys is a 2012 film directed by Sam French, and co-produced in Afghanistan and the United States. It was nominated for the 2013 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. [6] [7] [8]

Contents

After being nominated for an Oscar, the film was released along with all the other 15 Oscar-nominated short films in theaters by ShortsHD. [3] [4]

Production

In the film, Jawanmard Paiez plays a street kid who forms a friendship with a blacksmith’s son, played by Fawad Mohammadi. Mohammadi was a street vendor in real life, selling maps and souvenirs in Kabul. Their roles in the film reversed their real-life circumstances, with the production team casting Mohammadi based on his personality, which aligned with the character of the blacksmith's son. [9] While filming one scene on the streets of Kabul, Paiz was mistaken by a relative for a beggar, as he had dressed in tattered clothing and waved an incense burner for the role. [10] [11]

Plot

Filmed entirely on location in Kabul, Afghanistan, Buzkashi Boys tells the coming of age story of two best friends – a street urchin and a blacksmith's son – who dream of a better life. Rafi, whose family has long worked as blacksmiths, bridles under his father's insistence that he follow in his footsteps.

His best friend Ahmad, a penniless orphan, survives by begging for coins in exchange for a puff of incense from his makeshift censer—a tin can swung from a piece of wire. Seeking to escape their destinies, the two friends dream of becoming champion horsemen in Afghanistan's national sport, Buzkashi—a dangerous form of polo played on horseback with a headless goat carcass instead of a ball. When Ahmad decides to steal a horse to prove he can realize his dreams, things spiral out of control and Rafi must come to terms with the reality of his situation.

Accolades

Film festival awards

Award nominations

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Buzkashi Boys Team". BuzkashiBoys.com. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  2. 1 2 Oliveira, Michael (17 February 2013). "Afghan teen stars to accompany Canadian Oscar nominee to show". CTV News . The Canadian Press . Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Oscar Nominated Short Films 2013". The New York Times . 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Buzkashi Boys". The New York Times . 2013.
  5. ↑ "Release dates for Buzkashi Boys". IMDb . Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  6. ↑ "11 Live Action Shorts Advance in Oscar® Race". The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  7. ↑ Goldstein, Caroline (2012-12-22). "Wayne Native's Film to Play at Bryn Mawr Film Institute". RadnorPatch. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  8. ↑ "2013 Oscar Nominees". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Shahrukh Khan, Sunny Deol role models of Buzkashi Boys". Khaama Press. 2013.
  10. ↑ "Paiz and Buzkashi Boys: Does Hard Work, or Fate and Coincidence, Create Success?". Voice of America. 2013.
  11. ↑ "Young Afghan actors get ready for the Oscars". USA Today. 2013.
  12. ↑ "BUZKASHI BOYS WINS BEST DRAMA AT LA SHORTSFEST!". Development Pictures. Archived from the original on 2013-02-15. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  13. ↑ "AWARD WINNERS". LA Shorts Fest. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  14. 1 2 3 "Afghan film "Buzkashi Boys" shortlisted for Oscar". British & Irish Agencies Afghanistan Group. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  15. 1 2 "Screening of "Buzkashi Boys" in Alumni Hall". University of King's College. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  16. ↑ "Buzkashi Boys Makes Oscar Shortlist". 30 November 2012.
  17. ↑ "Winners Palma de Mallorca 2012". Evolution International Film Festival. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  18. ↑ "2012 Film Festival Award Winners Announced". Rhode Island International Film Festival. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  19. ↑ "ECU Filmfestival 2013" . Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  20. ↑ "Short Film (Live Action) / BUZKASHI BOYS". The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  21. ↑ "Oscar Nominations List 2013: Complete Rundown Of Academy Award Nominees". Huffington Post . 2013-01-13. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
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