CONFIDENTIAL RECORD Undercover: Exposing The Far Right

Director: Havana Marking

Year: 2009

After 30 years of war and Taliban rule, pop culture has returned to Afghanistan. Millions are watching Afghan Star - a Pop Idol-style TV series in which people from across the country compete for a cash prize and record deal. 2000 people audition, including three brave women. The viewers vote for their favorite singers by mobile phone and for many this is their first encounter with democracy. <br /> <br /> This timely film follows the dramatic stories of four young contestants as they compete for the star title. Through them we explore issues or gender, religion, ethnic equality, freedom of speech, economic stability and the mighty power of TV itself. But it takes a terrifying turn as one young woman dances on stage, threatening her safety, her family and the future of the show itself. In Afghanistan you risk your life to sing.<br />  

Director: Havana Marking

Year: 2012

The Serbian Pink Panthers are the world's most successful gang of jewel thieves. With incredible access this gripping documentary film both tells their story and follows the Interpol task force set up to stop them. Playing out like a noir thriller and keeping their Hollywood-style heists at its centre, the film reveals the impact of a 21st Century mafia, opens the shady world of diamond trading, and retells the tragic history of the Balkans. As more of the world is controlled by such mafias – often aided and abetted by the West - it is a story we need to understand.

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle.<br /> Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all.<br /> At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? <br /> This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. <br /> Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere<br /> Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere