# Champions of the Golden Valley Review: Hope on Wooden Skis > Champions of the Golden Valley is Ben Sturgulewski's uplifting documentary about young Afghan skiers on homemade skis, shadowed by the country's coming collapse. Canonical: https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/champions-of-the-golden-valley-2024-review/ Published: 2026-07-23 Last updated: 2026-09-24 Author: Kaiser Khan — Founder & Editor Language: English Review basis: direct-viewing Spoilers: none Rating: 3.5/5 ## Verdict Mostly yes. It is a warm, visually striking sports documentary for viewers who like underdog stories, though its tidy structure skims the upheaval around it. ## Is Champions of the Golden Valley worth watching? **Mostly yes. Champions of the Golden Valley is a heartfelt, beautifully shot documentary that finds genuine joy in an unlikely place: a mountain ski race in Afghanistan.** Ben Sturgulewski shows a side of the country rarely seen on screen, and the young athletes at its centre are easy to root for. The reservation is that the film's classic underdog shape sometimes feels too neat for a story unfolding on the edge of national catastrophe. ## What is Champions of the Golden Valley about? [Champions of the Golden Valley](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/champions-of-the-golden-valley-2024/) is set among the high peaks of Afghanistan, where young people from rival mountain villages have taken up skiing, often on makeshift wooden skis they build themselves. The film follows several of them, including Alishah Farhang, Mujtaba Hussaini and Hussain Ali Nazari, as they train and prepare for a local mountain race that brings their communities together. The race becomes a rare moment of shared celebration and peace. Hanging over it is what the audience knows and the athletes cannot: that their country is heading towards collapse, and that the future they are training for may not arrive in the form they imagine. Sturgulewski directed the documentary, which runs a brisk 81 minutes. It won Best Feature Documentary at the Balinale film festival in 2025. ## A side of Afghanistan rarely filmed The film's great asset is its setting. Most images of Afghanistan that reach international audiences are shaped by war, and Sturgulewski, whose background is in outdoor and adventure filmmaking, shows something different: snow-covered ridges, bright sky, villagers gathering on the slopes, children hurtling downhill with more courage than technique. The mountain photography is often breathtaking, and the race sequences are shot with the energy of a proper sports film. There is real charm in the details of how this ski culture works. Homemade equipment, improvised training and the pride of rival villages give the film a grassroots texture that feels a long way from the polished world of competitive winter sport. The athletes' enthusiasm is infectious, and the film wisely lets them speak about their ambitions in their own terms. ## An underdog story with a shadow over it The structure is deliberately classic: introductions, training, rivalry, the big day. That framework gives the film clarity and momentum, and it makes the race a satisfying climax. It also means the documentary sometimes plays like a feel-good sports movie that happens to be real. The strongest passages are the ones where the wider context breaks through. Knowing that this moment of triumph comes just before the country's collapse lends the celebration an ache, and the film handles that tension with restraint, letting the audience feel the weight of what is coming rather than spelling it out. It is most affecting when it trusts that quiet irony. ## Where the frame feels too neat At 81 minutes, the film leaves some threads underexplored. The political situation is present mainly as a shadow, and viewers hoping for a deeper look at how these communities, and particularly the young women and men in them, experienced the change in their country may find the treatment brief. A few of the athletes are sketched more thinly than others, and the uplifting tone occasionally smooths over questions a longer film might have asked. It is a portrait of a moment, not a full account of what followed. ## Who should watch Champions of the Golden Valley? It suits viewers who enjoy inspiring sports [documentaries](https://celluloidscore.com/genres/documentary/), mountain and outdoor films, and stories that show familiar places from an unexpected angle. It is short enough for a single evening and gentle enough for families with older children. There is little on-screen violence, though the backdrop of political collapse gives it a melancholy undercurrent. If it works for you, there is a natural next step: - [The Karate Kid](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/the-karate-kid-2010/), a fictional underdog story about a young athlete finding confidence in an unfamiliar place, with the same crowd-pleasing training-to-triumph shape. For more real-world stories in wild landscapes, browse our [adventure](https://celluloidscore.com/genres/adventure/) titles. ## The verdict Champions of the Golden Valley is a moving, often exhilarating portrait of young skiers chasing joy in the mountains of Afghanistan. Its familiar shape and brief running time keep it from digging as deep as its subject allows, but it is a warm, worthwhile film that shows a side of the country few viewers will have seen. **Rating: 3.5/5** ## Related title - [Champions of the Golden Valley (2024)](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/champions-of-the-golden-valley-2024/) ## Editorial - [Editorial standards](https://celluloidscore.com/about/editorial-policy/) - [Report a correction](https://celluloidscore.com/about/corrections/)