Osama

Top 10 Fun Facts

1. Don't be confused by the title. The film is not about Osama bin Laden, although the story's setting of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan does provide an allegorical reference to the infamous extremist.
2. Going for authentic: Osama was shot on location in Kabul, Afghanistan.
3. In fact, the film's actors are all amateurs hand-picked by the director from the streets of Kabul.
4. Cinema survives: this was the first film to be shot entirely in Afghanistan since 1996, when the Taliban declared film production to be forbidden.
5. Writer/director Siddiq Barmak's idea for the film was partially inspired by a chance meeting with a girl who dressed as a boy in order to attend school.
6. Further inspiration for the story may have come from an Afghanistan newspaper article published after the Taliban's fall.
7. It takes an international village: Barmak was able to get the movie made with the help of leading Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who contributed $100,000 and film equipment to the project.
8. The global effort didn't stop there; the picture also received funding from companies in Afghanistan, the Netherlands, Japan and Ireland.
9. Barmak originally called the movie Rainbow and included a far more hopeful ending for the lead character, before deciding the film's message should be much bleaker.
10. And the award goes to... Osama took home the 2004 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

Cast

Crew