Angels Are Made of Light

“If I keep working, I’ll fail in my studies,” a 12-year-old Afghan street kid tells the camera. “If I study hard I’ll lose my job.” In an impoverished neighborhood in Kabul, a Muslim school offers the one tenuous hope for a life of the mind and spirit. And yet the shadow of economic deprivation caused by endless years of war can never be entirely dispersed. In his restrained, beautifully photographed work, shot over the course of several years, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker James Longley invites us into a world in which kids, no matter how desperate their circumstances, remain almost miraculously connected and resilient. Even as the neighborhood around them can seem hopeless, their love for siblings and friends, their faith in God and their dreams of a better destiny for their country keep their spirits high. (Telluride Film Festival)