KABUL // The lights go off, the projector whirls, and for the first time in years Afghan families find themselves sharing popcorn and soda together as they watch Hollywood and Bollywood stars on the big screen.
A family-friendly cinema has opened in Kabul, creating a rare venue in Afghanistan’s war-torn capital where women, usually confined to the home, can spend time in public with their husbands and children.
Kabul’s movie halls are popular with raucous male audiences who clap and whistle at screens wreathed in clouds of hashish and cigarette smoke. Traditionally, however, the cinema is not a place where women and children go.
But when the Galaxy was built last year it became the first cinema in Kabul to ban single men for certain hours when families are inside, sheltering women and children from harassment, smoke, and unsuitable behaviour.
“It’s my first ever experience visiting a cinema in Kabul, and the experience has been great,” said 25-year-old mother Zahra Sozan. emerging from the theatre after watching the 2016 Hollywood supernatural thriller Lights Out.
“When the families are inside the hall nobody else is allowed to get inside, the families feel secure,” said Abubakar Gharzai, one of the owners of the Galaxy.
Sixteen years ago this simple pleasure would have been impossible, with the cinema halls destroyed by civil war and the Taliban regime forbidding nights at the movies.
The queue at the Galaxy is an echo of a time before the Taliban’s dark era, when Afghan men, women and children openly attended films, theatre and concerts.
Young couples wait for tickets, enjoying the novelty and boldness of being in public together — though many are still cautious.
The higher than usual ticket prices — 300 Afghanis ($6) fper ticket, which is six times the cost of other cinemas in Kabul — also puts it beyond the reach of many in the capital, where unemployment is rampant. But it adds to the sense of security for those who can afford it.
“There aren’t many places for women in Afghanistan to hang out, they have a tough life, and this is a secure place,” said Ms Sozan’s husband, Hamed.
Samira Sozan, visiting the Galaxy with her brother, listed the public places considered suitable for women. “We have a bowling club, recreational park, and Kabul zoo,” she said.
Even so, women are usually too busy washing and cooking to enjoy time with husbands and children, she said. As for the Galaxy — “We will come again and again,” she said.
“It is not tradition to visit the cinema, but we do not care what people say. It is one of the few places for us to spend time with our families ... We cannot ask for a better place to come.”
Mr Gharzai said he chose family-friendly policy for the cinema precisely because he wanted to give such pleasure.
“We want to show the world the positive side of Afghanistan, that Afghanistan is not about bombs and attacks, but there is also something which makes our people happy,” he said.
The biggest threat to the cinema, he said, is piracy and online streaming.
Afghan audiences prefer US and Indian movies to those produced by a home-grown film industry stunted by nearly four decades of war.
However, by the time the Galaxy screens recent high-definition offerings such as Dangal, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Sultan, many would-be spectators have already watched them online.
Horror films, Gharzai said, are popular. “We could not air horror movies because of the children, but the demand was very high, so now we show them.”
With Afghanistan still at war with a resurgent Taliban, the cinema, is located inside a Kabul shopping centre guarded by armed police.
Islamist militants have long vilified Hollywood and Bollywood as vulgar and sinful, although no cinemas have been attacked in Kabul in recent years.
“There are threats,” admits Gharzai. “But we rely on the Almighty.”
* Agence France Presse