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FILMOGRAPHY
A list of films and documentaries relating to music and music censorship
Last update 26 August 2009



Please note that only few of the film titles listed below are about 'music censorship' as such. In most cases, music censorship and its effects is not the only topic of the film.



By film title, alphabetical:

Afghan Star  
A Channel 4 Documentary Foundation production in association with Tolo TV.
Directed by Havana Marking.
With the singers Setara Hussainzada, Rafi Nabaazda, Hameed Sahkizada, Lima Sahar, Daoud Sediqi.

In English, Dari and Pashtun with English subtitles. Running time: 88 minutes.
Distributor: Zeitgeist Films
Film website: Afghanstardocumentary.com
Afghanistan. 2008.

    Read more...
Click to go to the film's website
Click to read about the exiled 'Afghan Star' singer Lima Sahar

An Independent Mind  
Directed by Rex Bloomstein.
About freedom of speech and how far individuals will go in order to preserve it. Interview with reggae singer Tiken Jah Fakoly from Côte d'Ivoire.

Language: English / English subtitles.
United Kingdom. 2008. 89 minutes

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At the end of a perfect day  
About the punk band Quartet in Iran. Young film maker Mina Keshavarz tailed the band for a whole year. The film shows how the band gets into trouble with the Iranian law enforcers.
Directed by Mina Keshavarz / Kamran Heidari
Farsi spoken, subtitles in English. 52 minutes, DVD.
Iran. 2008.

    Read more... (in Danish language)


Back Vocal  (Seday-e Dovom)
Directed by Iranian film director Mojtaba Mirtahmasb.
About women singers in Tehran who defy Iran’s law forbidding women to perform solo

Language: Persian. English subtitles.
Iran. 2004. 40 minutes

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Breaking the Silence – Music in Afghanistan
Directed by Simon Broughton
Produced by Felmay
Colour. In English. Available on DVD
Afghanistan / UK. 2002. 60 minutes

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¡Cuba RebelióN!
Directed by Alessio Cuomo & Sander de Nooij

Produced by Coldsun Productions VOF & Column Film
Language: Spanish with English subtitles

Netherlands/Cuba 2008, 53 minutes

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Cleick here to read more about the film

Democracy in Dakar
Documentary film about hip-hop youth and politics in Dakar, Senegal.
Directed by Magee McIlvaine, Chris Moore and Ben Herson

Produced by Nomadic Wax and Sol Productions
Language: Wolof and French with English subtitles

Senegal 2008, app. 60 minutes

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Click to read more about the film

Fangafrika - Voice of the Voiceless
The first documentary film about West African hip-hop.

Produced by Staycalm! Productions
Language: French with English subtitles

Burkina Faso and France. 2007, 52 minutes

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Click to open pdf document about the film

Forbidden Future (Forbudt framtid)
Directed by Gard A. Andreassen
Documentary which features the Iranian death metal band Scourge and their lead–singer Ali. “Behind closed doors in Teheran young Iranian artists express themselves through music, painting and sports – thereby risking public floggings and even a death sentence.”

Won the ECU 2008 for 'Best European Feature Documentary'
Colour. Digibeta. English subtitles
Iran / Norway. 2007. 52 minutes

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    View trailer
View trailer

Half Moon (Niwemang)
Directed by Bahman Ghobadi
Produced as a joint production of Iran, Iraq, Austria, and France by MijFilm

Colour. 35mm. Language: Kurdish and Farsi
Iran. 2006. 114 minutes

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Heavy Metal in Baghdad
Feature length documentary about Iraq’s only heavy metal band, Acrassicauda, who are in exile in Turkey
Directed and produced by Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi
Produced by Monica Hampton

HDCAM. Colour. Language: English and Arabic
Iraq. 2007. 84 minutes

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Click to read more about the film

I Love Hip Hop in Morocco
Documentary about a group of hip hop artists sharing a dream: To organise a professional concert. Unfortunately resistance is strong in their society and resources scare. With the help of an American filmmaker, they raised funding and created the first Hip Hop festival in Morocco.
Co-Directed by Jennifer Needleman & Joshua Asen
Language: Arabic, French & English with English, French & Spanish subtitles
Morocco/USA 2008

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In the name of God (Khuda Kay Liye)
Award-winning feature film, highest grossing film of Pakistan of all time. About two musical brothers of which one decides to follow a fundamentalist cleric who says music is forbidden according to Islam.
Directed and written by Shoaib Mansoor
Colour. Language: Urdu and English
Pakistan. 2007

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Knowledge is the Beginning
About The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra which is banned from performing in the countries from which most of its musicians come.
Directed by Paul Smaczny
Language: English.
Germany / Palestine. 2005. 90 minutes.

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Nobody Knows About the Persian Cats
(Kasi az gorbehaye irani khabar nadareh)
About music censorship in Iran, featuring the underground rock band Mirza, the rapper Hichkas, as well as other musicians of varying styles from Persian pop and folk to heavy metal, and women who are banned in Iran from public solo singing.
Directed by Bahman Ghobadi
Language: Persian with English subtitles
Iran / France. 2009. 106 minutes

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Click to read more

Off Beat  (Saz-e Mokhalef)
Directed by Iranian film director Mojtaba Mirtahmasb.
About Tehran's underground music bands

Iran. 2004. 45 minutes

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Click to open pdf with more information

Passion (Bab el Makam)
Directed by Syrian film director Mohamad Malas
Produced by Ahmed Baha Eddine Attia and Fabienne Servan-Schreiber. The film won the Jury Prize at the fifth Marrakech International Film Festival in 2005

Distributor: , Paris, France
Syria. 2005. 98 minutes

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Click to read more

Shut Up & Sing
Featuring the American country group Dixie Chicks
Directed by Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck
A Cabin Creek Films documentary

USA. 2006. 93 minutes

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Read more about the film

Sounds of Silence Underground Music in Tehran
Directed and produced by Amir Hamz and Mark Lazarz
Iran. 2006. 97 minutes

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Stopping the Music
Directed by Douglas Mitchell
Produced by Michael Drewett
South Africa. 2002. 54 minutes

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Sufi Soul
'The Mystic Music Of Islam'
The Sufi voice is increasingly under challenge within the Muslim world and beyond...
Directed by Simon Broughton
A documentary produced for British Channel 4.
Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, Morocco. 2005. 48 minutes

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Click to read more

The Flute Player  – a story of hope, healing, and the will to survive
Featuring Arn Chorn-Pond
Produced by Jocelyn Glatzer and Over The Moon Productions
Directed by Jocelyn Glatzer

Cambodia / USA. 2003. 57 minutes

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The Miscreants 
Directed by George Gittoes
A Gittoes & Dalton Production

Pakistan / Australia. 2009. 90 minutes

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Click to read more about the film

The Rebel  (Rebelle)
About the Algerian singer Matoub Lounès who was assassinated in 1998.
Directed by Mokrane Hammar.
Algeria. 2005. 70 minutes

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The Rock Star and The Mullahs 
Featuring Salman Ahmad
Produced by Angus Macqueen
Directed by Ruhi Hamid
A PBS Wide Angle documentary

Pakistan / UK. 2003. 57 minutes

    Read more...
Click to read more at WideAngle's website

The Satanic Angels (Malaekat Al-Shaytan)
Feature film about a Moroccan heavy metal band arrested for "shaking the foundations of Islam". The script is based on a real case.
Written and produced by Ahmed Boulane
International sales: Redfern Film, London

Arabic and French dialogue
Morocco. 2007. 86 minutes

    Read more...
Click to read review

The Singing Revolution 
Directed by James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty
A Mountain View Productions documentary

Estonia / USA. 2007. 96 minutes

    Read more...
Click to read more

Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love 
Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
35mm. In English, Arabic, French, and Wolof with English subtitles.
Senegal / USA. 2009. 102 minutes

    Read more...
Click on photo to read more


    

Go to top
Read more:

Senegal: Popular singer boycotted and threatened by religous groups
A documentary film shows the controversy over Youssou N’Dour’s 2004-album 'Egypt' which became subject of a boycott because of its mix of music and Islam
Iran: Film about Iranian music censorship awarded, musicians exiled
The Iranian film ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’ was awarded at Cannes Film Festival. But two of the musicians which it features now must go in exile
Iran: Film about music censorship shown on Cannes Film Festival
Kurdish-Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi launches a two-hour film about music censorship in Iran which features banned musicians and singers
Pakistan: 'The Miscreants' - The popular culture of war in Pakistan
Documentary and fiction is mixed in this film by Australian director George Gittoes who based himself in Peshawar for six months to talk to religious leaders of the region
Burma / China / Cote d'Ivoire: 'An Independent Mind'
Tiken Jah Fakoly, who received the Freemuse Award 2008, is one of the main characters in a new documentary film, 'An Independent Mind' about freedom of speech
Afghanistan: Short video about music and 'community censorship'
In a short documentary video about music and 'community censorship' in Afghanistan, the 19-year-old Afghan singer Mariam says she gets verbal abuse all the time
Cuba/Netherlands: ¡Cuba RebelióN!
A documentary film about the punk-rock and metal musicians rebelling against the bureaucracy and imposed conformity of the Castro regime
Nigeria: Actor jailed for releasing an uncensored music video
The actor Adam A. Zango was imprisoned for producing and releasing an uncensored hip-hop video. The incident was a result of restrictions within the kannywood film industry
Afghanistan / UK: Film festival celebrates banned music
A film festival in Edingburgh entitled 'Reel Afghanistan' celebrates the Afghan art form which was banned by the Taliban: music
Iraq: Film about the heavy metal band Acrassicauda
The documentary film 'Heavy Metal in Baghdad' documents how Iraq’s only heavy metal band, Acrassicauda, had to escape the country and is now literally a band on the run
Estonia: Banned choral singing became a Singing Revolution
The documentary film 'The Singing Revolution' shows how choral music played an imporant role in the small Baltic country's struggle against its occupation
Pakistan: Religious music prohibition discussed in popular movie
Feature film about a musician who gets inspired by a cleric to give up music for religious reasons became Pakistan's highest grossing movie of all time
Iran: 'Half Moon' - film about women's right to sing
'Half Moon' is a prize-winning feature film which talks of women's right to perform in public, and to participate in the artistic development of a land
USA: Documentary film about Dixie Chicks: 'Shut up & Sing'
A documentary film about the country trio Dixie Chicks and the three years of hysteria that followed after they criticized president George W. Bush at a concert in London in 2003
Iran: World premiere of film about music censorship in Iran
Documentary film on governmental censorship of music in Iran had its world premiere in New York in 2006: ‘Sounds of Silence – Underground Music in Tehran’
Syria: Music censorship film wins award
Film director Mohamad Malas' movie 'Bab El Makam' tells the story of a young woman, who struggles against a society which does not accept her love for singing
Summer school with focus on cinema and human rights
Summer school in Italy: How can films be used as an instrument for enhancing human rights awareness?
Breaking the Silence: Afghanistan documentary out on DVD
Breaking the Silence - the award winning documentary from 2002 by Simon Broughton on music after the fall of the Taliban is now available on DVD
South Africa: Film documentary 'Stopping the Music'
A South African protest singer and the police spy assigned to stop his career meet face to face
Breaking the Silence: Music in Afghanistan
BBC documentary by Simon Broughton on music after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan