Siddiqa and the Others - An Afghan Dream (2006)

The documentary film directed by Carlo Alberto Pinellitells the story of three Afghan girls who like sports and outdoor activities. They have succeeded in overcoming their parents' mistrust and prejudices and listed to join a Course of Environment-Friendly Mountaineering organized by the Association Mountain Wilderness International. The Course pursues the aim to offer to a group of young Afghans the chance to acquire the basic skills necessary to become in a near future qualified accompanying staff for foreign mountaineering expeditions, trekking and nature excursion guides, rangers for the mountainous National Parks. During the long trip towards the mountains of the upper Hindu Kush range, where the Course will be held, the girls get a chance of becoming aware of their country's contradictory realities: opium cultivation's, Kuci nomads, the Kirghiz shepherds in the Pamirs etc. Finally, they reach the higher area at the foot of spectacular peaks covered with heavy ice shields. Here, with the guidance of several European instructors, Siddiqa, Habiba and Zuhra are faced with the challenges, the efforts, the fulfillment, the trills and dangers associated with Himalayan mountaineering. They will always treasure with enthusiasm the memory of this unusual experience. This is a reassuring conclusion that should induce all of us to operate in a way that these girls and their companions will not be deeply disappointed in their expectation of life.