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Flying Down to Kabul
Tuesday, August 1, 2006 at 9 P.M.
One day, Danish artist and pilot Simone Aaberg Kærn reads in her morning paper the story of a 16-year-old Afghan girl who dreams of becoming a fighter pilot. Flying 3,000 miles from Denmark to Kabul in her rickety canvas-covered plane, Kærn vows to find young Farial and make her airborne dream come true. After 50 hours in the air, 33 landings, encounters with astonished airfield ground staff and an illegal, unannounced entry into Afghanistan and U.S.-protected airspace, Kærn finally reaches Kabul. Once there, she dons a veil, locates Farial, and takes the astonished teenager into the air on the ride of a lifetime. But before long, the unlikely pair face cultural turbulence -- and a rough landing in reality, as Kærn learns how rigidly Afghanistan's conservative traditions govern the life of an ambitious teenage girl.
Director Simone Aaberg Kærn is a performance and video artist whose work often incorporates the sky and flight as a theme. Her best known work is a series of portraits called Sisters in the Sky of women fighter pilots during World War II. In 2001, she produced a dual screen video installation and short film about Iran's first female pilot entitled Taraneh Heading for the Stars. Flying Down to Kabul is her debut as a documentary film director.
Director and cinematographer Magnus Bejmar is a Swedish radio and TV journalist and has also worked as a director and writer for theater. Flying Down to Kabul is his debut as a documentary director. Bejmar learned how to fly a plane during his journey to Kabul.
Producer Helle Ulsteen has produced a variety of award-winning feature documentaries and art and interactive projects, many in association with Lars von Trier and the Dogme 95 Collective. Her latest work includes The Exhibited, a film about von Trier's art project Psychomobile #1: The World Clock; The Purified, which documents four film directors' visions; and Sketches of Portrait of a Painter, an interactive storytelling project about Danish artist Vibeke Tøjner. Currently she is developing a global series of feature docs together with UNICEF entitled The Invisible Children - From a Global POV.
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