Nelofer Pazira

Nelofer Pazira gained quite a bit of notoriety in 2001 after the North American release of the film Kandahar. The semi-autobiographical film tells the story of a Canadian journalist and Afghan exile, played by Pazira, who attempts to return to her homeland to help her sister, who is depressed and suicidal as a result of Taliban rule. Kandahar is based on Pazira’s own story: she and her family emigrated to Canada from Afghanistan in 1989, when she was 16, and Pazira did attempt to go back to her homeland to help a suicidal childhood friend in the 1990s.

The film won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in Cannes and had its North American release at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8th, 2001, three days before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. Per The New York Times, “…there was sudden resonance for this Iranian film about Afghanistan.”