Girls throw a punch in Afghanistan

On the blustery evening of January 30^th, a group of hardy souls ventured into the darkness to attend a special screening at the auditorium of Library and Archives on Wellington Street. Sponsored by the Canadian Film Institute, Ariel Nasr’s  The Boxing Girls of Kabul played before a disparate audience united by a common interest in the plight of Afghanistan. The bicultural director, whose next film, Buzkashi Boys,is a 2013 Oscar finalist, described life in that shattered nation and the challenges inherent in shooting a controversial film featuring girls in a society notoriously closed to foreigners.