From KCRW in Santa Monica, this is The Treatment.

Welcome to The Treatment. I'm Elvis Mitchell. You can also hear this show at KCRW.com.

My guest, documentary filmmaker Havana Marking, made incredible film about democracy and pop culture,

Afghan star, which is about an American Idol type show

in Afghanistan and the enormous emotional, psychological,

and culture repercussions of that competition.

Avant, first of all, thanks so much for being here.

Thank you for having me.

First of all, describe the movie more specifically for the audience

as listening and hearing about it for the first time.

Well, there's an independent television company in Afghanistan in Kabul.

They set up in 2001,

and this was one of their first kind of really exciting and hit TV programs in Afghanistan.

It's called Afghanistan. They searched the country for new singers and people around the country watching can vote.

Obviously with the background of Taliban repression and the ban on music and the ban on television,

it's more than just a TV talent show or a kind of reality pop show. It's really a cultural

and sort of rebellious and revolutionary act. It's very exciting. It's funny because at some point

almost everybody in the show from the

competitors to the producer to the host talk about endangering their lives, but also the

determination to follow this through. And I wondered as you were getting ready to make the film,

if that was one of the moments, one of the elements that single-mindedness everybody had that made you feel there was a film in this?

I knew there was a film in it from the beginning because, well, I'm a fan of in England.

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