At Five in the Afternoon (Panj e asr)

Iranian writer/director Samira Makhmalbaf directs At Five in the Afternoon, co-scripted by her father, Mohsen Makhmalbaf (director of Kandahar). In the bombed-out ruins of post-Taliban Kabul, Noqreh (Agheleh Rezaie) lives with her conservative father (Abdolgani Yousefrazi) and her sister-in-law, Leylomah (Marzieh Amiri), in temporary refuge buildings. Although her father insists that she go to the religious school, Noqreh sneaks into a secular school for girls. Her teacher encourages her to run for class president, and she finds support from a refugee poet (Razi Mahebi), who introduces her to the work of Garcia Lorca. Noqreh dreams about becoming president of Afghanistan, and she bases her political ideals on former Pakistani president Benazir Bhutto. At Five in the Afternoon won the Jury Prize at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide