Oscar-nominated Swiss filmmaker Christian Frei's essay on the Taliban's destruction in 2001 of the huge Bamiyan Valley Buddhas mixes contemporary footage with a variety of historical judgments on these legendary sculptures. Photography by Peter Indergand and music by Philip Glass impart a mystical undertone to the narration. (Christian Frei, 2005, 35 mm, 95 minutes)

A story of friendship transcending social class in pre-war Afghanistan, The Kite Runner was inspired by Khaled Hosseini's popular debut novel based on his family's experiences there during the 1970s. (Marc Forster, 2007, 35 mm, 128 minutes)

A selection of recent short and poetic video works by Afghan and Afghan-American artists, including Lida Abdul, Rahraw Omarzad, and Mariam Ghani, is introduced by curator Leeza Ahmady of New York, who recently co-organized the exhibition I Dream of the Stans: New Central Asian Video. Several artists represented in this program are members of the Center for Contemporary Art Afghanistan (CCAA), an association working to render visible the issues that are buried beneath the many media-manufactured topics currently characterizing Afghanistan. (Approximately 75 minutes, including discussion)

Writer and director Siddiq Barmak, an Afghan who learned filmmaking in Russia, borrowed equipment and recruited nonprofessionals from Kabul's streets to shoot Osama, the story of a woman who alters her daughter's appearance to resemble a boy. Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf was an early supporter of Barmak, who in turn was moved by the poetic cinema movement in Iran. (Siddiq Barmak, 2004, 35 mm, Pashtu, English, and Dari with subtitles, 83 minutes)

The cab driver narrator of Mon Kabul carries on spirited conversation with male passengers as he drives around his beloved but war-ravaged city. (Whahid Nazir, 2007, digital beta, Dari with subtitles, 20 minutes)

Sociologist and filmmaker Waise Azimi embedded himself for four months at a training camp for the Afghan National Army. With a focused yet impartial eye, he follows a group of young men through assorted experiences at the camp. "In objective, uncompromising fashion, Azimi provides sharp analysis of a country at war.... Standing Up is a breakthrough one-man work."—International Film Festival Rotterdam. (Waise Azimi, 2006, digital beta, English and Farsi with subtitles, 160 minutes)

Meena Nanji's documentary study of three Afghan women barely coping with their personal predicaments challenges the more upbeat media accounts of recent improvements for females within the country. (Meena Nanji, 2006, digital beta, Dari with subtitles, 82 minutes)

In Kabul Girls Club, Afghan-American soccer coaches arrive in Afghanistan to organize and nurture a soccer clinic for the young women of Kabul. (Johnson McKelvy, 2007, digital beta, 25 minutes)

Hairdressers from the United States and the United Kingdom travel to Kabul to teach women how to style their hair and apply makeup. The point of this mission is to provide the local women with a marketable skill and a prospect for financial independence. (Liz Mermin, 2004, 35 mm, English and Farsi with subtitles, 74 minutes)

The first of two films from the house of Makhmalbaf (the Iranian filmmaking family responsible for many eloquent narratives about Afghan society), Kandahar is the story of a journalist who leaves her post in Canada to aid her troubled sister at home in Afghanistan. This proves no easy task, as the film sensitively delineates the woman's near endless perils and pitfalls. (Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 2001, 35 mm, English, Farsi, Pashtu with subtitles, 85 minutes)

The beauty and grief of present-day Afghanistan receives poetic treatment from eighteen-year-old Iranian filmmaker Hana Makhmalbaf. Set in central Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley, where in 2001 Taliban soldiers destroyed centuries-old sculptures of Buddha carved into the cliffs, the film is a haunting journey into the minds of the children who live in that desolate area. Amidst the rubble of the massive statues, an endearingly obstinate six-year-old Afghan girl, Bakhtay, wants to learn to read and write. After hearing that a school for girls has opened up across the river, she sets out on a mission to attend. The film follows Bakhtay as she faces obstacles, including her family's poverty and indifference to education, on her way to school. She must also traverse a no man's land, where she is "captured" by a band of boys who delight in playing war games that mimic the violence they have witnessed. Bakhtay's arduous journey across the river becomes a metaphor for Afghanistan's own difficult transition. This film is being shown in honor of the exhibition Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, on view in the East Building through September 7, 2008. In Farsi with English subtitles (Hana Makhmalbaf, Iran/France, 2007, 81 minutes)

An old man called Dastaguir (Abdul Ghani) travels by foot through the Afghan desert with his small grandson Yassin (Jawad Mard Homayoun). Exactly why they are making their journey is revealed slowly, in a scenario less about overt actions than graceful nuances, as details come to light in war-torn yet beautiful landscapes. (Atiq Rahimi, 2004, 35 mm, Dari and Pashtu with subtitles, 102 minutes)