Borderline-Europe Kooch Club
Report on the Second Meeting of the Kooch Club: Screening and Discussion of "The Forbidden Strings"
At borderline-europe, we organize the Kooch Club. "Kooch" is a Persian word meaning migration, and we use it as the name of the club because we like to discuss the context of migration in Iran (Afghan migrants in Iran) and in Germany (Afghan and Iranian migrants in Germany). On Friday, October 25, 2024, we held our first meeting, where we screened the documentary “A Journey into Zero Space” by Dawood Hilmandi, followed by a discussion with the filmmaker.
At the second meeting of the Kooch Club, on November 22, 2024, we watched “The Forbidden Strings” by Hasan Noori and discussed it with the director and production manager Mohammad Anwar Pooya, as well as one of the musicians, Ali Akbar Atayee.
,,The Forbidden Strings'' is a documentary about four Afghan musicians born and raised in Iran. They embarked on a dangerous journey from Iran to Afghanistan to fulfill their dream of playing the first rock concert in their homeland. Dr. Pooya mentioned that he had traveled to Afghanistan before to organize the band's trip to Bamiyan, but due to bombings in Kabul, they had to cancel and postpone the trip. Ali Akbar explained that this was the first visit to Afghanistan for the entire group, and when they found out they would have to travel by road from Kabul to Bamiyan, they felt unsafe. On this journey, Ali Akbar saw a Taliban for the first time and was really scared.
The director, Hasan Noori, studied sociology and film. He has experienced migration and tried to show a part of the life of Afghan refugees pursuing their dreams. The director explained that the trip was the band's decision, and he was flexible enough to accept it. On the last night, they decided not to go to Bamiyan, but the next morning they changed their minds and all traveled by road to Bamiyan for the concert.
,,The Forbidden Strings'' has been screened at over 30 international festivals, including IDFA and Santa Barbara. This intriguing documentary received several awards, including:
- Best Director Award at the Kabul Lajevard Festival
- Best Documentary at the Queens World Film Festival and Vox Popular Media Arts Festival in the USA
- Special Jury Award for Courage in Filmmaking at the Crested Butte Film Festival
- Special Jury Award at the Sound Track Festival in Cologne, Germany
- Best Feature Film and Best Documentary Awards at the North East London Festival
The meeting was free and open to all. Afterwards, the participants had the opportunity to ask questions to the director and crew. It seemed that they really enjoyed watching the film and were eager to share their views with the team.
