Asheville filmmaker Aimie Burns of Rock Creek Productions tells the story of Dr. Mohammad Khan Kharoti’s Green Village Schools program in her documentary Peace Through Education: Stealing the Light—which is being presented for one show only at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, at the Fine Arts Theatre. The film is a solid, straightforward documentary that blends interviews with archival footage and still photographs, charting the growth of the Portland-based doctor’s school for the children of Afghanistan in his native village of Shin Kalay. (At one point, the school was providing lessons to over 1,200 students a day.) It’s also a film about the people who helped him and his family make the school a reality. This is not, however, entirely a success story, as the school was attacked by gunmen in 2008. Those gunmen took everything of value and then bulldozed the school. Even so, the film goes on to record Dr. Kharoti’s ongoing efforts to rebuild what once was. Here’s a chance to see a worthy film on a worthy subject, and to help support a local filmmaker.
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