The amazing Lech Kowalski filmed CHARLIE CHAPLIN IN KABUL in 8 days in Afghanistan in 2002.

The ghost of September 11th casts a shadow of seriousness over the film, a reminder at the same time of the origins and the subject of the film.

The whole body of this underground filmmaker’s work has been about capturing reality, positioning himself as a witness of his times without forgetting to point out the problems in our disparate society.

Here the answer to the twin towers, is the carcass of an airplane, a mechanical cadaver where children play, climbing in the ruins, caught between the horror of war and the innocence of child play.

The project began when Peter Scarlet, an American, decided to show the Afghans the American classics films of the 30’s (Chaplin, Keaton…). He showed the films in the screening rooms of Kabul, deserted when the Taliban were in power. Scarlet, who at the time was the director of the Cinematheque Francaise, went to Kabul accompanied by his wife Katayoun Beglari-Scarlet (born in Iran and a journalist for Voice of America) and Lech Kowalski. Their only weapons were a video projector and a tape player.
In Kabul during the celebrations of Norooz (the Afghan New Year), Scarlet must overcome many obstacles (obsolete electrical cables, moral reluctance…). That is where all of the richness of the film is. Above this magnificent intent, Kowalski’s camera dwells on people devastated by years of tyranny. He records the chaos and the difficulty of newborn life, like those young orphan girls who, smiling, sing to us in an improvised choir : “It is time to look at the misery of orphans”. Under the filmmaker’s gaze the spectator is seized by emotions and immersed in the strength of reality.