AFGHAN MUSCLES

Denmark, 2007, 58 min, VIDEO
In English / Farsi with English subtitles

DIR: Andreas Mol Dalsgaard
SCR: Andreas Mol Dalsgaard, Oliver Winding
PROD: Jesper Morthorst, Michael Haslund-Christensen
DP: Frederik Jacobi, Andreas Mol Dalsgaard
ED: My Thordal
MUS: Fridolin Tai Nordsø Schjoldan
www.afghanmuscles.com

Danish director Andreas Mol Dalsgaard's relentlessly entertaining documentary follows the most popular sport in Afghanistan: male bodybuilding. And this is not the Afghanistan of your nightly news.

Just check out the hilarious scene at a qualifier for the men's national team: competitors strut their stuff in spray-on tans and Speedos while robed, bearded men squeal like teens stricken with Beatlemania. Dalsgaard tracks the athletes as they train for the Mr. Asia championships, capturing a multitude of surreal moments. A sponsorship takes the form of a dozen eggs a day, protein powder is smuggled like drugs and "Arnold" is referred to often, on an exclusively first-name basis. Beyond its incredibly appealing characters and thrilling plot, this film offers something we don't often see: the Afghan perspective.

While America remains largely ignorant of the people who live in the countries we are "fighting for," Dalsgaard offers us an invaluable reminder that such a place actually exists.

AFGHAN MUSCLES shares the 2007 AFI FEST Grand Jury Prize for Documentary award.

Biography
Andreas M. Dalsgaard is a student from the European Film College. He holds a BA in Anthropology Studies from the Aarhus University in Denmark and UniversitŽ Denis Diderot Paris VII. At both places his focus has been Afghanistan, based on several trips to the country from 2003 onwards. Since 2001 he has been working on productions within Xanadu Productions and Haslund Film, directing films for Danish TV in Paris, Denmark, Afghanistan, America and China. As of 2008, he is studying fiction directing at the Danish National Film School, while continuing to work on documentaries.

"I mainly work in the field between fiction film and documentaries, shaping either one in the form of the other. I believe documentaries can tell us a great deal about true human struggles and conflict, while fiction film has spent decades exploring the forms and shapes of strong storytelling."
- Andreas Dalsgaard