THE KITE RUNNER Premieres in Hollywood

Khaled Hosseini and Marc Forster

The official U.S. movie premiere for THE KITE RUNNER was held at the Egyptian Theater, Hollywood, Tuesday, 4 December. The movie will begin a limited release in 30 selected theaters Friday, 14 December.

Both the author of the book and co-writer of the screenplay Khaled Hosseini, and the movie's director Marc Forster were present at the Hollywood premiere, but none of the Afghani child actors who appear in the movie attended. They are now safe somewhere in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Four boys, each accompanied by a relative, arrived in the UAE on Friday, 30 November, according to a spokesperson for Paramount Pictures. The studio is also paying a per diem to relatives left behind in Kabul, and has offered to keep the entire arrangement in place long enough for the boys to graduate from high school if they choose to stay. Paramount executives and others involved in the relocation effort still hope to bring the co-stars to the United States to be honored somehow and to grant their wish to visit as tourists.

SYNOPSIS:

THE KITE RUNNER, a DreamWorks production - Paramount Vantage release, like the 2003 best-selling novel upon which it is based, spans three decades of Afghan strife from before the Soviet invasion through the rise of the Taliban. The story centers on the friendship between Amir, a wealthy Pashtun boy (played by Zekiria Ebrahimi), who is now 11, and Hassan, the Hazara son of his father's servant.

(Hassan) In a pivotal scene Hassan, (Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada, now 13), is raped in an alley by a Pashtun bully. Amir witnesses the rape, but says nothing.

Later, Sohrab, a Hazara boy (Ali Danish Bakhty Ari, now also 13), is preyed upon by a corrupt Taliban official. It is the rape scene that has caused the problem for the young actors. The fourth boy is Sayed Jafar Masihullah Gharibzada, now 14, who played a smaller role but became friends with the others.

(Amir)

Amir and his father flee Afghanistan. After his father dies, Amir, now an adult, returns. Khalid Abdalla, who played the pilot / hijacker in UNITED 93, (2006), portrays the adult Amir.
Khalid Abdalla at the Hollywood Premiere.

For my readers in Spain, Mexico and Latin America, the Spanish title of the book and film is COMETAS EN EL CIELO.

A SPECIAL AUCTION ON eBAY

Beginning yesterday (5 December), there is an celebrity auction on eBay where autographed authentic Afghan kites are being auctioned to raise funds for the Afghanistan Relief Organization (ARO) specifically for the training of teachers and the construction of rural libraries in Afghanistan.

Among those celebrities who have autographed the 25 kite tails are Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Benicio del Toro, Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon, Cher, Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Kate Winslet, Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, former President George H.W. Bush, Eva Mendes, Ryan Gosling, Steve Nash, Lauren Bosworth, Lauren Conrad, Hans Zimmer, The Kite Runner director Marc Forster and actor Khalid Abdalla. In addition to receiving a kite with the tail autographed by the celebrity, the winning bidder will receive a “thank you” card signed by the celebrity.

Other items to be listed on eBay include a trip to the set of the new James Bond movie as a personal guest of director Marc Forster, as well as a private lunch with Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini. People will also have the opportunity to bid for the inclusion of their names in Hosseini’s next book. Auction site.

WHAT IS THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES?

The United Arab Emirates is a constitutional federation of seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. Abu Dhabi is the largest emirate. The federation was formally established 2 December 1971. When you see signs at sporting events that read, "Emirates" it means that space was paid for by the UAE.

The same for Emirates Airline, which is the airline owned by the federation. It was Dubai Ports that was not allowed to buy the contracts for port operations in the U.S., and it was the federations financial center in Abu Dhabi that recently bought about 20% of CitiCorp, the parent of CitiBank, effectively saving CitiBank's backside in the prime mortgage debacle.

Oscar® Feature Docs Short List

Originally, 70 documentary features qualified for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences'® Best Documentary Feature Film in this year's Oscar race. Under the rules, all were screened by the committees, and 15 films have advanced to the next step - - choosing five for nomination.

Here's the short list with a little extra (Docs with dirctor(s), USA productions and in color, unless noted):

AUTISM: THE MUSICAL - Tricia Regan (Music and autistic children).

BODY OF WAR - Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro (Wounded vets).

FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO - Daniel G. Karslake (Homosexuality and religion intersect).

LAKE OF FIRE - Tony Kaye (Abortion, B&W).

NANKING - Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman (1938 "Rape of Nanking, China, by Japanese").

NO END IN SIGHT - Charles Ferguson (Iraq - Special Jury Prize, Sundance IFF).

OPERATION HOMECOMING: WRITING THE WARTIME EXPERIENCE - Richard Robbins (Troops in Iraq & Afghanistan - Special Jury Award Florida FF; nominated for IDA* award).

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME - Weijun Chen, South Africa (Election, elementary class style).

THE PRICE OF SUGAR - Bill Haney, USA / D.R. (Exploitation of workers in Dominican Republic - Audience Award, SXSW FF).

A PROMISE TO THE DEAD: THE EXILE JOURNEY OF ARIEL DORFMAN - Peter Raymont, Canada (Memories of exile, longing and democracy in Argentina through the words of author /activist Dorfman).

THE RAPE OF EUROPA - Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen and Nicole Newnham (Chronicles struggle to keep Nazis from destroying centuries of western culture - Audience Award, RiverRun IFF).

SICKO - Michael Moore (Comparing U.S. health system to others - nominated for IDA* award).

TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE - Alex Gibney (Torture in Afghanistan, Gitmo, and Iraq - Best Doc, Chicago IFF; nominated for IDA* award).

WAR/DANCE - Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine (Children in displacement camp compete in Uganda music festival despite war - Directing Award, Sundance IFF; Audience Award, Wisconsin FF; nominated for IDA* award).

WHITE LIGHT/BLACK RAIN - Steven Okazaki (Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the horror they brought to children).

*International Documentary Association Finalist. Gala is 8 December 2007. Also, see my Awards Page.

The 80th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, 22 January 2008, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Wilshire Boulvard, Beverly Hills, CA. The awards gala is 24 February 2008.

THE KITE RUNNER at Mill Valley Festival

THE KITE RUNNER (directed by Marc Forster), screened last night as scheduled before a sold-out house at the Mill Valley Film Festival near San Francisco, CA, despite the controversy about the movie's rape scene. The crowd on closing night was so large the Festival had to add another screening. Khaled Hosseini, who wrote the novel, and screenwriter David Benioff attended.

Hosseini is a Bay Area resident, and the MVFF is only the third film festival in North America to screen the film, following showings at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Nashville Film Festival. San Francisco's ABC, KGO 7 broadcast an excellent story about the movie. WATCH THE VIDEO . Also, see the recent post (Monday, 8 October) on this blog for more information about what is already one of the most talked about movies of 2007.

KITE RUNNER Opening Delayed Due to Rape Scene

Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada (Hassan, a Hazara servant's son, L) and Zekiria Ebrahimi (Amir, the Pashtun protagonist, R) portray lifelong
friends from rival Afghan ethnic groups in THE KITE RUNNER.

Yesterday, The New York Times reported that the U.S. opening of the movie THE KITE RUNNER, scheduled for the 2nd of November, will be postponed because of safety concerns for the three Afghan boys who star in the movie, as well as their families. One source said the movie's release would be delayed until 14 December, another reported no new opening date has been determined.

The controversy stems from a scene where Amir's friend Hassan is raped by a Parshtun bully. The scene is filmed impressionistically, not realistically, but even the suggestion of such an act in the Muslim culture has generated outcries and threats.

THE KITE RUNNER is based on the 2003 novel of the same title by Khaled Hosseini, an award-winning book that was at, or near, the top of the New York Times best-seller list for almost three years. Marc Forster (FINDING NEVERLAND, 2002) directed the film version, which he chose to film in English, Dari, Pashtu, Urdu, and Russian.

Author Hosseini is Afghani, and his novel covers three decades (1970 - 2000) of Afghan strife, from before the Soviet invasion through the rise of the Taliban. There has also been continuing strife between the Poshtun wealthy Sunni ruling class and the poorer Shi'ite serving class, the Hazara.

The protagonist is Amir, a wealthy Pashtun boy. The part of Amir as a boy is played in the movie by Zekiria Ebrahimi, and as a young man by Khalid Abdalla, who played the pilot / hijacker Ziad Jarrah in UNITED 93 (2006).

Amir's mother died giving birth. He was raised by his wealthy Pashtun father, whom he calls Baba, and his father's Hazara servant, Ali, who has a son, Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada), one year younger than Amir. Hassan's mother left his father when Hassan was a baby.

Life is good for Amir, except for a Pashtun Hitler-admiring bully, who later joins the Taliban. One evening, the bully rapes Hassan while Amir hides, doing nothing and saying nothing even after the incident. Because of Hassan's shame and Amir's guilt, the bond between Amir and Hassan is irreconcilably broken, leading to the distruction of the friendship between their two fathers.

When the Soviets invade Afghanistan, Amir and Baba are forced to escape, eventually finding asylum in the U.S. The story is told in three sections: Amir and Baba in Afghanistan prior to the Soviet invasion, their lives in America where Amir falls in love, and Amir's return to Afghanistan where he finds an unexpected gift.

Anyone who watches the evening news, or follows the news on the web, has little doubt that there is rising lawlessness in Afghanistan and especially in its capital, Kabul. Plus, the young actors in the movie and their relatives are now accusing the filmmakers of mistreatment and paying the boys much less than American actors would have been paid. As a result, the producers of the film, executives at the distributor Paramount Vantage, and even aide workers, have become more concerned about the safety of those in Afghanistan who are involved with the film project.

Apparently, this past Sunday steps were taken in the United Arab Emirates to begin the process of getting the boys and their families out of Afghanistan. A Middle East specialist at the consulting firm Kissinger McLarty Associates has been hired to arrange visas, housing and schooling for the young actors and jobs for their guardians. Bringing them to the United States is not an option because Afghans, like the majority of Iraqis, do not qualify for refugee status.

For much more information, note about the harassment of a young boy in the Indian movie KABUL EXPRESS, and to watch THE KITE RUNNER trailer, see the entire article (click title of this post, a link, or here).