Afghan documentary 'Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone' wins Oscar

The emotional film, set against the backdrop of a war-torn Afghanistan, took home a coveted golden statuette at the 92^nd annual Academy Awards for Best Short Documentary.

The documentary has been making the award circuits and last week won big at the BAFTAs.

A short film looking at the power of girls, it follows the Skateistan School House and Skatepark in Kabul, Afghanistan, which teaches girls how to read, write – and skateboard.

Young Afghan girls skateboard to get away from the war and to engage with one another.

“[The girls] would be very much in the house around the women helping out, hanging onto skirts, trying not to be bored and taking care of the boys or the babies, whichever there are more of or who needs it,” director Carol Dysinger said.

Meanwhile, four Arab films were also nominated at the Academy Awards 2020; For Sama (Waad al-Kateab), The Cave (Feras Fayyad), Brotherhood, by Meryam Joobeur and Tunisian live action short Nefta Football Club were also nominated.

Afghanistan is in a state of violence

Violent attacks in Afghanistan's war jumped to record levels in the last quarter of 2019, a US government watchdog said on Friday, underscoring the conflict's continued toll despite a relative calm in Kabul.

The nation's capital and other urban areas have enjoyed a rare stretch of more than two months without the sorts of large-scale bomb attack that frequently rock the city and cause mass casualties.

Despite the lull, which has come as the US and the Taliban continue talks over a possible deal for American forces to leave Afghanistan, fighting in rural provinces has continued unabated, with reports of skirmishes appearing daily.

According to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), "enemy-initiated attacks" rose sharply last year, with the fourth quarter seeing a total of 8,204 attacks - up from 6,974 in the same period in 2018.