ArteEast Presents The Orphanage

Co-presented with ArteEast

Based on the private diaries of one of the film's stars, Anwar Hashimi, this 2019 Danish-Afghan drama takes place in 80s Kabul, where 15-year-old street kid Qodrat gets by scalping tickets to the local cinema. But when he’s picked up by police and taken to a Soviet-operated juvenile facility known as “the orphanage,” he must adjust to regular meals and primary education, and everyone must grapple with what the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan will mean for life as they know it. Shahrbanoo Sadat’s film was screened in the Directors’ Fortnite section at Cannes in 2019 and is the second film in a planned five film series based on Hashimi’s writing.

Join us following the screening for a Q&A with Leeza Ahmady (Curator-at-Large, Foundation for Spirituality and the Arts) and Lila Nazemian (ArteEast Programs Director)