Creators of 'Buzkashi Boys' work to bring young Afghan actors to Oscars

The two young Afghan stars of the live-action short Buzkashi Boys will hopefully be walking the red carpet at this year’s Oscars.

According to the Associated Press, Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz, both 14, co-star in a coming-of-age movie about a blacksmith’s son and a street boy who wish to grow up to play buzkashi, a sport in which horseback riders aim to get a goat carcass into a goal.

The film, co-written by Sam French and Martin Roe, is nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short film. The two writers are endeavoring to bring the actors to Los Angeles for the awards and have started fundraising to make it a reality, the Associated Press notes.

The entire film was shot in Afghanistan in association with a non-profit that French helped to start, entitled the Afghan Film Project. Through this project, twelve Afghani workers were trained while making the film, French told the Ahwatukee Foothills News.

French cast Mohammadi after seeing him “on the streets actually selling bubblegum and maps to foreigners. He was working on the streets, and he was basically the character that Martin and I had written so we ended up casting him in the film."

Mohammadi actually plays the blacksmith's son while Paiz, the son of an Afghan actor, plays the street urchin.

“His life was so much harder than mine,” Mohammadi told the Associated Press of his character. “The blacksmith made him go out on the streets. I came myself here (to Chicken Street). My family didn’t make me come. I wanted to make money to feed myself and to feed my family. He didn’t have a home. They lived in the blacksmith shop.”

According to the Associated Press, any extra money from the fundraising will go towards Mohammadi’s education.