The Land of the Enlightened

"Whenever an Afghan kills a brother, a new star is born. Soon the night will be as bright as the day.... One day we will travel together into the night and bring the day back its light." The rugged, remote northeast of Afghanistan is a high mountain landscape with peaks up to 7,500 metres. It is the border area with Tajikistan, Pakistan and China. In this region, nomadic gangs of children earn some money from the remnants of the many wars their country has suffered from for a long time. They collect all kinds of metal scraps to sell. A group of Kuchi children live in a minefield near Bagram airfield in Afghanistan. They dig up anti-personnel mines and sell the explosives to child workers who mine lapis lazuli. The path of the blue gems leads through an area controlled by child soldiers to Tajikistan and China. When they are not fighting mini-wars of their own in the daily madness of Afghanistan, the children escape in their personal fantasies and dreams, while the American soldiers plan their retreat...