“Afghan Star” Documentary Uses Contest Structure to Build Suspense

I saw Director Havana Marking’s film Afghan Star (2009) this week. This character-driven documentary is structured around four contestants’ quest to win an American Idol style contest, an entertaining matchup that takes the formerly Taliban-ruled country by storm.

Structuring a film around a contest is a tried and true method that I teach in documentary classes.  Wedding the plot points of a character-driven competition with the intellectual points of a documentary essay makes for a highly watchable film.  Witness the Oscar-nominated La Corona (2008), about a beauty contest in a women’s prison in Columbia; Mad Hot Ballroom (2005), about New York City kids competing in a dance contest; and even the recently-released Good Hair (2009), which builds it essay on the arc of a hair-styling contest.

Part of the intrigue of contest type documentaries is not only who will win, but who will misstep, hit a false note, fall down or misspell a word (Spellbound, 2002).  Winner of the World Cinema Audience and Directing Awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, Afghan Star follows two women and two men vying for Tolo TV’s top award.

The most compelling moment comes when a courageous 22-year old female contestant from Herat City, Setara Hussainzada, dances on stage, a taboo in the conservative Muslim country.  Her brash action and its possible dire consequences provide the film with much of its suspense.

For more information on how to structure a documentary film around ideas and a character quest, check out the “Editing the Character-Driven Documentary” e-course on my website.

Go to http://www.newdocediting.com/land/editingdocumentaryecourse/