SCREENING: Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame

This explosive broadside against the Taliban is set in the Afghani province of Bamian. In 2001, the Taliban destroyed a pair of massive fifth-century Buddha carvings. Today the statues loom in absentia over Makhmalbaf’s pointed parable. Baktay, a smiley and determined six-year-old, decides she wants to go to school. Her first lesson is in economics as she tries to barter some eggs for the pen and paper she’ll need for class. But that’s nothing compared to the ensuing tutorial in cultural studies, when she is menaced by a callow faction of boys playing ‘Taliban’ – and playing it to the hilt.