Where the Light Shines

Where the Light Shines

The Birth of Skiing in Afghanistan

2019•1h 40m•9.8/10

Documentary

Ratings

🎬TMDb

9.8/10(4)

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.

Open in PickFlick

Language

EN

Status

Released

Release Date

Recommended

Blackfish

Blackfish

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.

Blackfish

2013

7.8

Azzurri: Road to Wembley

Azzurri: Road to Wembley

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

Azzurri: Road to Wembley

2021

7.8

Joker

Joker

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.

Joker

2019

8.1

Titanic

Titanic

101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.

Titanic

1997

7.9

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate, who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski…

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

2019

7.4

Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

Oppenheimer

2023

8.0

Batman Begins

Batman Begins

Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham City. Unable to work within the system, he instead creates a new identity, a symbol of fear for the criminal underworld - The Batman.

Batman Begins

2005

7.7

Back to the Future

Back to the Future

Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.

Back to the Future

1985

8.3

Shutter Island

Shutter Island

World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.

Shutter Island

2010

8.2

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

8.7

Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction

A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.

Pulp Fiction

1994

8.5

The Truman Show

The Truman Show

An insurance salesman begins to suspect that his whole life is actually some sort of reality TV show.

The Truman Show

1998

8.2

Similar Movies

Caravan

Caravan

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.

Caravan

2024

Afghan Star

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.

Afghan Star

2008

6.3

Taxi to the Dark Side

Taxi to the Dark Side

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.

Taxi to the Dark Side

2008

6.9

Flee

Flee

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.

Flee

2021

7.7

The Boy who plays On The Buddhas Of Bamiyan

In March 2001, the ruling Taliban destroyed Afghanistan's foremost tourist attraction, the 1600 year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan. This film follows the story of one of the refugees who now lives among the ruins….an eight-year-old boy named Mir.

The Boy who plays On The Buddhas Of Bamiyan

2004

7.5

Disaster Capitalism

Disaster Capitalism

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.

Disaster Capitalism

2018

8.7

Bulletproof Salesman

Bulletproof Salesman

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.

Bulletproof Salesman

2008

7.5

Afganistanbul

Afganistanbul

No overview available.

Afganistanbul

2018

2.5

Afghantsi

Documentary exploring the experience of Soviet soldiers during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Afghantsi

1988

Ascend

Ascend

Mina Bakhshi, Haniya Tavasoli and Rabia Hussain had a fair amount of latitude for women in Afghanistan, able to pursue their education, go to work, and explore hobbies and interests. Joining Ascend, a nonprofit organization teaching leadership and rock climbing to women, gave them the chance to test their personal and cultural limits and explore the mountains of their home country. But when the Taliban took over in August 2021, Ascend became their one chance to escape a regime that would restrict their freedoms and future.

Ascend

2023

The Life of Mir

The Life of Mir

The British Regisseur Phil Grabsky has documented an Afghan boy's life for 10 years.

The Life of Mir

2021

Hollywoodgate

Hollywoodgate

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.

Hollywoodgate

2024

8.0