Smiling in a War Zone

Directed by Magnus Bejmar

After the September 11 attacks, airspace became restricted, and allied forces deposed the Taliban regime. In January 2002, Kærn sat in a café in Copenhagen and read a newspaper article about Farial, (16-year old girl in Kabul) wanting to fly airplanes. Kærn decided to fly with partner Magnus Bejmar 6,000 km to Kabul and give the girl the experience of flight, and also reclaim the freedom of the skies. With money from WASP paintings in Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, she bought a Piper Colt from 1961, a small airplane. During a 3 month trip through flight-restricted Balkan, they met with female fighter pilots in Turkey and talked about the world's first female fighter pilot Sabiha Gökçen, and made an aerial heart of smoke with the Turkish Air Force.