RocKabul

Last updated
RocKabul
RocKabul poster.jpg
Directed by Travis Beard
Produced by
StarringDistrict Unknown
Edited by
Music by Jason Beard
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • February 1, 2018 (2018-02-01)(International Film Festival Rotterdam)
Running time
86 minutes
CountriesAfghanistan, Australia
LanguageEnglish

RocKabul is a documentary film that was produced between 2009 and 2016 in Afghanistan by Australian filmmaker Travis Beard. The film had its world premiere at the 2018 Rotterdam International Film Festival. [1] It has been featured in over 40 film festivals, and had a limited cinema release within Australia in 2019.[ citation needed ] Bill Gould from the American alternative metal band Faith No More is an Executive Producer on the film and describes it as “A coming of age documentary which deals with youth identity and freedom of expression” [2]

Contents

Critical reception

The film was generally very well-received critically. As of 17 January 2020 it has an overall rating of 7.7/10 on review aggregator website IMDB.com. [3] The Australian website The Curb described it as "A respectful, powerful, entertaining, informative, engaging documentary that kicks ass." [4]

RocKabul has been featured in some of the biggest music magazines such as Rolling Stone, [5] Metal Hammer, [6] and Kerrang. [2]

Funding

The film was funded by the US State Dept under the Public Diplomacy Grant Initiative at the US Embassy in Kabul and Screen Australia.[ citation needed ]

District Unknown

One of the bands heavily featured in the film is District Unknown, a psychedelic metal band formed in Kabul in 2009 and taught by Beard. The group originally performed in disguises and remained anonymous due to threats from the Taliban.

After the events of the film, District Unknown broke up with two members, Sulleiman Omar and Yousef Shah, relocating to the United States and United Kingdom, respectively. The duo formed a new project Afreet and continue recording under that name.

Festivals

RocKabul had its world premiere at the 2018 Rotterdam International Film Festival [1] and its Australian premiere at Sydney Film Festival.

References

  1. 1 2 "RocKabul". IFFR. 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  2. 1 2 "District Unknown: Meet The Band Who've Literally Risked Their Lives For Metal". Kerrang!. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  3. ↑ RocKabul , retrieved 2020-01-17
  4. ↑ Andrew Peirce (2018-07-09). "RocKabul Review" . The Curb. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  5. ↑ "District Unknown: quando l'heavy metal diventa una condanna a morte". Rolling Stone Italia (in Italian). 2018-04-14. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  6. ↑ Hammer, Eleanor Goodman2018-10-30T16:20:38Z Metal (30 October 2018). "Afghan metal documentary Rockabul to premiere in London". Metal Hammer Magazine. Retrieved 2019-06-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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