Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone is a short documentary directed by Carol Dysinger and produced by Elena Andreicheva.
It won an Oscar in the category for best short documentary.
This is an important win, not just for women who’re doing their best to break through the male-dominated Hollywood world, but also for the girls in Afghanistan who were learning to skate in one of the scariest war zones in the world.
During her acceptance speech, Dysinger said that this documentary is a love letter to all the brave girls who live in that country and that they’re teaching women to raise their hands, to be brave, and showing them that no one can stop them.
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone
This documentary tells the story of two students at Skateistan- a school in Kabul which offers children the ability to learn skateboarding.
This is something uncommon for the Afghanistan women who’ve long been repressed. Dysinger claims this school is therefore very important to them. She recalls how the children were so eager to learn and happy to learn.
If it weren’t for this innovative school, explained Dysinger, these girls would spend most of their time in their homes helping their families, cooking, taking care of the other boys or babies in the house, etc.
This school opens up their worldview and gets to show them how other people live.
Dysinger spend several years in Afghanistan and she decided to use an all-female group for the movie.
It Breaks Your Heart, but It also Warms It Up
In the documentary, the girls are seen clutching their skateboards, biting their lips, and fiddling with the wheels.
They learn how to make tight turns around traffic cones.
They wear headscarves under the big helmets. The school is tucked behind the high walls in the capital of Afghan, Kabul, for the safety of everyone.
This is a rare win for a movie including Afghans after years of nominations, including last year’s The Breadwinner, an animated movie produced by Angelina Jolie that tells the story of a girl who disguises herself as a boy so that she can support her family under the rule of the Talibans.
Learning to Skateboard is a heartbreaking, but a heartwarming movie too. It gives us an insight into the lives of girls in a country that’s one of the worst places in the world to be a woman.
The skateboarding school has 398 students, males and females. They attend classes separately.
In addition to learning how to skate, the girls are also taught to believe in themselves.
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