Afghan ‘Idol’ spurs documentary

HOLLYWOOD - When Havana Marking was growing up in England, her hippie father regaled her with stories of the epic landscape and stunning people he encountered while visiting Afghanistan in the 1960s.

Young Havana was hooked. “I wanted to go there for years and years,’’ Marking said. “I have done a lot of traveling in Asia and Islamic countries and lived and worked in various Islamic countries. But Afghanistan was this forbidden jewel. I could never go there.’’

When US, British, and other Allied forces invaded eight years ago and toppled the Taliban regime, Afghanistan’s doors were open again. Marking, a TV documentarian, tried to find a good subject that would lure her there. “There are a lot of documentaries out there and a lot of boring documentaries,’’ Marking said on a recent visit to Los Angeles.

“To find something that makes it worth it to go out there and risk your life. . . . it had to be a really amazing idea.’’ A friend put her in touch with British war journalist Rachel Reid, who told her about an “American Idol’’-like TV talent competition called “Afghan Star’’ that was taking the country by storm. “I sat up and said, ‘That is the way in.’ ’’

The end result is Marking’s first feature documentary, also titled “Afghan Star.’’ Earlier this year, the film won two awards at the Sundance film festival. It opens in Boston on Friday.

Shot on location in Kabul and other Afghan towns in 2007 and 2008, “Star’’ follows the three-month process the show takes from its regional auditions to the final competition. And although the show included male and female contestants and brought together various ethnic groups within Afghanistan, not all was peace and harmony along the way.

Music is still considered controversial in the country that, after 30 years of war and recent Taliban rule, has little in the way of civic services and where kidnappings are big business. Still, about 2,000 people auditioned - among them only three women, two of whom made it to the finals - and millions of their countrymen watched the show and voted via cellphone.

While Marking kept a bodyguard with her at all times, she didn’t need permission to shoot anywhere. “I just showed up,’’ she said.

Marking also worked closely with the show’s organizers, Tolo TV. “They gave me complete freedom, and that was the most important thing,’’ she said.