"Osama" gets rousing reception at Cannes.

(From Agence France Presse)

"Osama", the first Afghan film ever screened at Cannes, revived horrific memories of the torment of women under the Taliban and won a rousing reception for its director Sedigh Barmak.

Barmak, whose first feature was shown at Director's Fortnight and who is in the running for the Camera d'Or prize for best newcomer, told AFP that "the film is about the hopelessness" of the Taliban years.

Shot last year on a shoestring budget, "Osama" is set in the weeks after the Taliban takeover in the mid-90s and begins with a visually strong scene-setting image of a demonstration by hundreds of jobless women wrapped in all-covering blue …