UK fest awards ‘The Forbidden Strings’

The North East International Film Festival (NEIFF) in the UK has awarded ‘The Forbidden Strings’, a documentary from Iran, Afghanistan, and Qatar.

Directed by Hassan Nouri and produced by Afsaneh Salari, the doc won the awards for Best Feature Documentary and Best of the Fest Feature at the 2021 edition of the NEIFF.

The 71-minute film tells the story of four young Afghans who have been making music together for years, despite the disapproval of the people around them.

Akbar, Soori, Mohammed and Hakim, the children of some Afghan parents who fled to Iran in the 1980s, have formed a rock band.

Despite the danger they will face, they dream of performing in Afghanistan. They travel on a perilous route to get there and realize what they are up against soon after arriving.

Clearly, Afghanistan is still a very dangerous place. Moments of joy are infectious, and sobering reality is always lurking as four young people break with tradition to express themselves.

‘The Forbidden Strings’ went on screen at a number of global events, including the Mother Tongue Film Festival in the US, the Cinema Verite in Iran, the Human Rights Film Festival Berlin in Germany, the Queens World International Film Festival in the US, the One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in the Czech Republic, and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in the US.

The NEIFF is designed around collaboration and interaction and is born out of passion and circumstance, the website of the event wrote.

The 2021 edition of the NEIFF was held on November 19-21 in London.

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‘The Forbidden Strings’ releases trailer

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