Hewad, a nine-year-old boy, supports his family by selling goods from a cart on the harsh streets of Kabul after the death of his father. At home he is also facing the challenge of the forced marriage of his mother to his uncle. He dreams of escaping his war-torn poverty existence by becoming a rich and famous actor, taking care of his mum himself and buying his family a fancy new house. An Australian photojournalist befriends Hewad and starts documenting his life in order to depict an empathetic image of the children of this war-torn society. Inspired by this, Hewad sets out to enlist his friends to help create an imaginary Hollywood style action film. While he and his friends are playing war games on the streets as an audition for the film, tragedy strikes and Hewad and his best friend are shot and killed by an Australian troops’ airstrike, who mistake the group for Taliban insurgents. Inspired by real people and true events.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
