Movie: Where the Light Shines

  • HomePage

    Where the Light Shines

  • Overview

    When two men compete to qualify in the Winter Olympics for the first time for Afghanistan, they realize that home is worth fighting for. In their wake they leave a passion for skiing and a hope for a brighter future. Where the Light Shines is the debut documentary from Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Daniel Etter with stunning cinematography by Angello Faccini. It is produced by Academy Award nominees Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis along with Steven Sawalich from Articulus Entertainment. Filmed over four years, Where the Light Shines paints an intimate portrait of life in Afghanistan and shows the difficulties of trying to create change in a country that for generations has only seen war.

  • Release Date

    2019-09-03

  • Average

    9.8

  • Rating:

    4.9 starts
  • Tagline

    The Birth of Skiing in Afghanistan

  • Genres

  • Languages:

    پښتوEnglish
  • Keywords

Recommendations Movies

Blackfish
78%

Blackfish(en)

2013-06-07

Notorious killer whale Tilikum is responsible for the deaths of three individuals, including a top killer whale trainer. Blackfish shows the sometimes devastating consequences of keeping such intelligent and sentient creatures in captivity.

Azzurri: Road to Wembley
78%

Azzurri: Road to Wembley(it)

2021-07-15

A docu-film that traces the victorious ride of Mancini's Azzurri, from the debut match to the final against England. A troupe lived with the Azzurri for a month, to bring the spectators into the lives of the players and all the members of the staff, between training sessions, matches, travels and celebrations. An adventure told through the voices of the protagonists, who confided dreams, joys, pains and hopes to the cameras. "Blue Dream, the road to Wembley" is the completion of a project started a year ago together with the FIGC, to tell the national team's approach to the European Championships through the 4 episodes aired in the days immediately preceding the European Championship, bringing the new television language of the docu-series to one of the most important time slots of the first generalist network. "Blue Dream, the road to Wembley" is a project of the New Formats Development Department

Venom
68%

Venom(en)

2018-09-28

Investigative journalist Eddie Brock attempts a comeback following a scandal, but accidentally becomes the host of Venom, a violent, super powerful alien symbiote. Soon, he must rely on his newfound powers to protect the world from a shadowy organization looking for a symbiote of their own.

Joker
81%

Joker(en)

2019-10-01

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.

Into the Wild
78%

Into the Wild(en)

2007-09-21

After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity, and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness.

Orphan
70%

Orphan(en)

2009-07-24

After losing their baby, a married couple adopt 9-year old Esther, who may not be as innocent as she seems.

The Avengers
78%

The Avengers(en)

2012-04-25

When an unexpected enemy emerges and threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins!

Memento
82%

Memento(en)

2000-10-11

Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.

Inglourious Basterds
82%

Inglourious Basterds(en)

2009-08-02

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

Interstellar
85%

Interstellar(en)

2014-11-05

The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.

Kingsman: The Secret Service
76%

Kingsman: The Secret Service(en)

2015-01-24

The story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.

Insidious
69%

Insidious(en)

2011-03-31

A family discovers that dark spirits have invaded their home after their son inexplicably falls into an endless sleep. When they reach out to a professional for help, they learn things are a lot more personal than they thought.

Edward Scissorhands
77%

Edward Scissorhands(en)

1990-12-07

A small suburban town receives a visit from a castaway unfinished science experiment named Edward.

American Psycho
74%

American Psycho(en)

2000-04-13

A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.

Saw
74%

Saw(en)

2004-10-01

Two men wake up to find themselves shackled in a grimy, abandoned bathroom. As they struggle to comprehend their predicament, they discover a disturbing tape left behind by the sadistic mastermind known as Jigsaw. With a chilling voice and cryptic instructions, Jigsaw informs them that they must partake in a gruesome game in order to secure their freedom.

Knives Out
78%

Knives Out(en)

2019-11-27

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death.

Fury
75%

Fury(en)

2014-10-15

April, 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theatre, a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, and with a rookie soldier thrust into their platoon, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.

Me Before You
79%

Me Before You(en)

2016-06-01

A small town girl is caught between dead-end jobs. A high-profile, successful man becomes wheelchair bound following an accident. The man decides his life is not worth living until the girl is hired for six months to be his new caretaker. Worlds apart and trapped together by circumstance, the two get off to a rocky start. But the girl becomes determined to prove to the man that life is worth living and as they embark on a series of adventures together, each finds their world changing in ways neither of them could begin to imagine.

No Time to Die
74%

No Time to Die(en)

2021-09-29

Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

The Evil Dead
73%

The Evil Dead(en)

1981-10-15

In 1979, a group of college students find a Sumerian Book of the Dead in an old wilderness cabin they've rented for a weekend getaway.

Similar Movies

Disaster Capitalism
87%

Disaster Capitalism(en)

2018-02-22

A documentary that reveals the underbelly of the global aid and investment industry. It's a complex web of interests that span the earth from powerful nations and multinational corporations to tribal and village leaders. This documentary offers unique insights into a multi-billion dollar world by investigating how aid dollars are spent.

The Land of the Enlightened
60%

The Land of the Enlightened(en)

2016-03-16

A group of Kuchi children are living in a minefield around Bagram airfield, Afghanistan. They dig out anti-personal mines in order to sell the explosives to child workers mining in a Lappis Lazulli mine. The trajectory of the blue precious stones goes towards Tajikistan and China, through an area controlled by child soldiers. When they are not waging their own mini-wars in the daily madness of life in Afghanistan, the children are fleeing away in their personal fantasies and dreams, while the American soldiers are planning their retreat...

Joy of Madness
58%

Joy of Madness(fa)

2004-07-15

Documentary showing the backstage of production of Samira Makhmalbaf's film Panj É Asr(At Five in the Afternoon), in Kabul, after the fall of the Taliban regime. Everything was recorded with a small digital camera by Samira's 14-year-old sister Hana.

Hollywoodgate
83%

Hollywoodgate(fa)

2024-07-19

Immediately after the US pullout from Afghanistan, Taliban forces occupied the Hollywood Gate complex, which is claimed to be a former CIA base in Kabul.

Une vallée contre un empire
0%

Une vallée contre un empire(fr)

1981-01-01

When the Soviet troops entered Afghanistan in December 1979, Christophe de Ponfilly and Jérôme Bony made their first clandestine reportage in the Panjshir valley. "A valley against an empire" testifies to the beginning of the struggle of a young commander, Amah Shah Massoud.

Sons of Haji Omar
0%

Sons of Haji Omar(en)

1978-02-14

Haji Omar and his three sons belong to the Lakankhel, a Pashtoon tribal group in northeastern Afghanistan. The film focuses on his family: Haji Omar, the patriarch; Anwar, the eldest, his father's favorite, a pastoralist and expert horseman; Jannat Gul, cultivator and ambitious rebel; and Ismail, the youngest, attending school with a view to a job as a government official.

Massoud the Afghan
80%

Massoud the Afghan(fr)

1998-09-30

The friendship between Christophe de Ponfilly and Commander Massoud, a legendary figure of the Afghan resistance against the Soviet invader, goes back to the filmmaker's first film, "A Valley Against an Empire", made in 1981. Fifteen years later, weakened, isolated, betrayed by many of his own, the "Lion of Panshir" has not surrendered to his new and implacable enemies, the Taliban. While preparing his next offensive, he evokes his commitment and his fights, and bears witness to a history in which he has been one of the main actors for twenty years. At the same time, the director questions the role and power of the media, as well as his own approach as a filmmaker. Commander Massoud was killed in an attack in September 2001.

Afghan Star
63%

Afghan Star(en)

2008-12-03

This documentary on the effect the talent competition "Afghan Star" has on the incredibly diverse inhabitants of Afghanistan affords a glimpse into a country rarely seen. Contestants risk their lives to appear on the television show that is a raging success with the public and also monitored closely by the government.

Flee
78%

Flee(da)

2021-06-17

Recounted mostly through animation to protect his identity, Amin looks back over his past as a child refugee from Afghanistan as he grapples with a secret he’s kept hidden for 20 years.

Afghan Spring
0%

Afghan Spring(ja)

1989-06-08

With Afghan Spring, Noriaki Tsuchimoto widened his focus to the international arena. Working in collaboration with his compatriot, Hiroko Kumagai, and Afghan film-maker, Abdul Latif, he examined society and politics in Afghanistan af the time of the Soviet withdrawal. The film now serves as a valuable record of a culture partially destroyed soon after by the Taleban regime.

Comme une pluie de parfum
0%

Comme une pluie de parfum(fr)

2015-01-01

Five Afghan men try to reach Europe. The filmmakers followed them for over six months, filming their clandestine journey and chronicling a migration combining fantasy and stark reality, setbacks and achievements, in the midst of the dangers of such trips.

Taxi to the Dark Side
69%

Taxi to the Dark Side(en)

2008-01-18

An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002.

Three Songs for Benazir
62%

Three Songs for Benazir(ps)

2021-06-02

The story of Shaista, a young man who—newly married to Benazir and living in a camp for displaced persons in Kabul—struggles to balance his dreams of being the first from his tribe to join the Afghan National Army with the responsibilities of starting a family. Even as Shaista’s love for Benazir is palpable, the choices he must make to build a life with her have profound consequences.

Caravan
0%

Caravan(en)

2024-04-05

The four Afghan refugees who have applied for asylum in Austria strike up the song, “The caravan moves on” again and again. Encouraged by the journalist Lucy Ashton to record their lives on their smartphone cameras as a video diary, the friends film their precarious daily routine between visits to authorities, small jobs, and changing accommodations. Yet even when hope is lost, one certainty remains: the power of friendship.

Bulletproof Salesman
75%

Bulletproof Salesman(en)

2008-03-10

Fidelis Cloer is a self-confessed war profiteer who found The Perfect War when the US invaded Iraq. It wasn't about selling a dozen cars, or even a hundred, it was a thousand-car war where security would become the ultimate product.

Restrepo
73%

Restrepo(en)

2010-06-25

Directors Hetherington and Junger spend a year with the 2nd Battalion of the United States Army located in one of Afghanistan's most dangerous valleys. The documentary provides insight and empathy on how to win the battle through hard work, deadly gunfights and mutual friendships while the unit must push back the Taliban.

Citizen Soldier
59%

Citizen Soldier(en)

2016-08-05

CITIZEN SOLDIER is a dramatic feature film, told from the point of view of a group of Soldiers in the Oklahoma Army National Guard's 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, known since World War II as the "Thunderbirds.” Set in one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan at the height of the surge, it is a heart-pounding, heartfelt grunts' eye-view of the war. A modern day Band of Brothers, Citizen Soldier tells the true story of a group of young Soldiers and their life-changing tour of duty in Afghanistan, offering an excruciatingly personal look into modern warfare, brotherhood, and patriotism. Using real footage from multiple cameras, including helmet cams, these Citizen Soldiers give the audience an intimate view into the chaos and horrors of combat and, in the process, display their bravery and valor under the most hellish of conditions.

The Hornet's Nest
64%

The Hornet's Nest(en)

2014-05-09

Armed only with their cameras, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning conflict Journalist Mike Boettcher, and his son, Carlos, provide unprecedented access into the longest war in U.S. history: they are embed with U.S. troops during nine days of intense combat in Afghanistan.

Where My Heart Beats
0%

Where My Heart Beats(sv)

2012-03-08

In 1989, Swedish journalist, Khazar Fatemi narrowly fled the war torn country of Afghanistan with her life. Twenty years later, the former refugee returned to the place that has always remained in her heart. Where My Heart Beats follows Khazar's dangerous, painful, and inspirational journey back home to reconnect with the amazing people of this broken nation.

Legion of Brothers
60%

Legion of Brothers(en)

2017-05-19

Afghanistan, immediately post-9/11: Small teams of Green Berets arrive on a series of secret missions to overthrow the Taliban. What happens next is equal parts war origin story and cautionary tale, illuminating the nature and impact of 15 years of constant combat, with unprecedented access to U.S. Special Forces.