Skip to main content
Hills and Mountains film image, director Salar Pashtoonyar

Hills and Mountains

Filmed on location in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, an Afghan woman recalls how the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led to her forced displacement and marriage.

 

Supported by

Community Broadcast Partner

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Fereshta Afshar

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2022

Language

In Dari with English subtitles

Film Contact
Content Warning

Gender or Sexual Discrimination

G
8 min

Featured in:

Horse Brothers film image

VIFF Short Forum: Program 3

The camera eye knows no bounds in these stories that push the limits of gravity and grace.

 

MORE INFO

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

The Secret in Their Eyes

Dir. Juan José Campanella
129 min

This month's Talking Pictures screening is a multi-layered, poignant thriller interweaving the personal lives of a prosecution investigator (Ricardo Darin) and a judge, with a manhunt spanning twenty-five years. Stay for cookies, coffee and a chat after!

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

American Doctor

Dir. Poh Si Teng
93 min

One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Sunless

Dir. Chris Marker
103 min

Chris Marker's dazzling and discursive essay film ranges across Japan, Africa, San Francisco, Iceland, politics, philosophy, ritual, movies and memory. It's a film for the permanently curious.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Meet Me In St. Louis

Dir. Vincente Minnelli
113 min

Vincente Minnelli's heartwarming evergreen chronicles an ordinarily tumultuous year in the life of a prosperous household in 1904. It's debatable that MGM ever conjured a more affecting musical.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Credits

Producer

Salar Pashtoonyar

Screenwriter

Salar Pashtoonyar

Cinematography

Parwiz Arify

Editor

Jalal Shams

Director

Salar Pashtoonyar headshot, Hills and Mountains director

Salar Pashtoonyar

Salar Pashtoonyar is originally from Afghanistan and now based in Canada. As a director, his films have screened at festivals worldwide, including Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and Palm Springs International ShortFest. After growing up as a refugee due to the wars in Afghanistan, he now explores the lives of ordinary people that deal with abnormal situations. Pashtoonyar holds degrees in Film Production from Toronto Film School and York University. His film Bad Omen (2020) was nominated for Best Canadian Short at the Canadian Screen Awards, and won the Bronze Medal at the 2021 Student Academy Awards.