Silencing the Song: An Afghan Fallen Star

HBO Documentary Films presents Silencing the Song: An Afghan Fallen Star, a follow up to the Sundance Award winning Afghan Star, which premiered on HBO in March 2010. Afghan Star followed the stories of four contestants on Afghanistan's hugely popular reality-TV singing competition, including one named Setara, who caused an uproar by dancing on stage, and worse, letting her head scarf fall to reveal her hair. In this 35-minute companion documentary, director Havana Marking returns to Afghanistan to check in on Setara, examining the impact that her controversial turn on the show has had on her life and her country. Though Setara's performance might be considered modest by Western standards, in Afghanistan, where strict rules govern women's behavior, her actions have put her life in danger. She was publicly denounced by Muslim clerics and she has received death threats. Now, married and expecting her first baby, Setara must juggle her own safety with being a wife and mother, all the while putting her dreams of becoming a pop star on hold, at least for the moment.