The Beauty Academy of Kabul

Directed by Liz Mermin

74 mins. / USA / In English and Dari with English subtitles / 2004

 

This engaging documentary tracks a unique aid project: a beauty school set up by American hairdressers foraspiring hairdressers and beauticians in post-Taliban Afghanistan. The film offers a rare glimpse into Afghan women’s lives and documents the moving and sometimes hilarious clash of cultures as women with very different experiences come to learn about one another over lipstick and curling irons.