Please join us for this exclusive NYC screening and discussion
hosted by the United Nations Association of New York
Champions of the Golden Valley
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Special appearances by
Arian Moayed
Iranian-American actor, screenwriter and director
Executive producer, Champions
Malala Yousafzai
Nobel Prize laureate and education activist
Executive producer, Champions
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Monday | 20 October 2025 | 7:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Admission:
UNA Members: $15
Non-Members: $20
Park Avenue Screening Room
500 Park Avenue (at East 59th Street)
New York, NY 10022
7:00 p.m. | Introduction with Malala
7:15 p.m. | Film Screening
8:45 p.m. | Discussion / Q+A
NOTE: Seating is very limited (35 seats) — first come first served basis, so early reservations are advised.
DISCLAIMER: All ticket sales for events are final. Please remember that your purchase represents your commitment to attend an event — there will be NO refunds issued.
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Register for this event here
CHAMPIONS OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY is an award-winning documentary that captures the emergence of a homegrown ski culture in the snow-capped mountains of Afghanistan. The film reveals a breathtaking and seldom-seen side of the country — a remote region where joy, resilience, and community are forged on the slopes.
At the heart of this movement is Alishah Farhang, a former Winter Olympic hopeful whose dream of being the first to represent Afghanistan in alpine skiing transforms into a mission to bring his passion for the sport to his homeland. Equipped with handmade wooden skis and secondhand gear, young athletes from rival villages come together to compete in a ski mountaineering race like no other. The event becomes a powerful catalyst for unity and hope, showcasing the transformative power of sport to bridge deep divides. And when their world is suddenly upended, Alishah and the athletes must call upon those lessons learned on the slopes.
Riveting, uplifting and deeply human, this is a story about how champions can be made by more than medals. With the spirit of an underdog sports story, Champions of the Golden Valley is a visually stunning and utterly unique perspective on the Olympic dream — showing how competition can strengthen communities, unite cultures, and bring light to even the most unexpected corners of the world.
The film premiered at Tribeca Festival and has screened at over 50 festivals and received over 30 grand prize, jury and audience awards including Best Documentary at both SCAD Savannah Film Festival and Berkshire International Film Festival, and the Overall Audience Choice at Heartland International Film Festival. The film will also commence an Oscar-qualifying theatrical engagement beginning on October 31, 2025 for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 2026 Oscars.
We invite you to attend this exclusive New York screening of an invigorating, inspiring and widely award-winning film, followed by a very special appearance by our guests, both of whom are executive producers of the film — the Iranian-American actor Arian Moayed, who will be present following the screening for a Q+A with the audience — and Nobel Prize laureate and activist Malala Yousafzai, who will appear early to introduce the film.
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“A moving and timely story about what joy and unity look like when everything else is falling apart. I’m proud to support this film and the young people whose courage and spirit it so beautifully captures.”
— Malala Yousafzai, Executive Producer
“These beautiful and resilient Afghans show us the power of what sport, community, and shared purpose can do, no matter what the obstacles may be.”
— Arian Moayed, Executive Producer
“The ultimate underdog story!”
— Variety
“A deeply human, rousing and forward-thinking, sensitive sports story.”
— Tribeca Film Festival
“Fosters a sparkling feeling of hope.”
— Banff Mountain Film Festival
“A powerful reminder of the strength of the human spirit.”
— Overly Honest Movie Reviews
Guest Speakers
Arian Moayed
Arian Moayed is an Iranian-born, Emmy and Tony-nominated actor, and co-founder of Waterwell, an award-winning community organizing art production non-profit in New York City.
Through Waterwell, productions include Blind Runner, The Ford / Hill Project, A Good Day To Me, 7 Minutes, The Courtroom, The Flores Exhibits, Hamlet, Blueprint Specials, Fleet Week Follies, Goodbar, The Persians, and many more. Waterwell actively works alongside community organizations like the American Immigration Council, Council on Foreign Relations, International Rescue Committee, NY Immigration Coalition, Blue Star Families, Children’s Rights, KultureCity, Iranian American Women Foundation, Labornotes, Documented, and dozens more in numerous local and national communities. Waterwell also has started a program with Nimruz in awarding grants for Iranian stories.
As a writer/director, Arian has created the Emmy-nominated thriller, The Accidental Wolf, and wrote The Courtroom, after the critically acclaimed Waterwell performances inside New York City courtrooms. Current creative film projects include Brother Love, This Country, 28 Mordad, The Great Fire of ‘33, a film adaptation of The Man in Red, and an autobiography about his family’s escape from Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Notable acting credits: A Doll’s House (Tony nomination, opposite Jessica Chastain), Broadway's The Humans (Drama Desk Award), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Tony nomination, opposite Robin Williams), Guards at the Taj (Obie Award), Succession (2 Emmy nominations), Love Life (NAACP nomination), Spiderman: No Way Home (Marvel), Inventing Anna (Netflix), You Hurt My Feelings (A24), House of Spoils (Blumhouse), abd Guy Ritchie’s Fountain of Youth (Apple/Skydance), Nobody Wants This (Netflix), Shell (Paramount+). Arian plays Agent Cleary in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Arian has taught in the NYC public school system for nearly two decades, including courses called “Artist as Citizen.”
Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai was born in 1997, in Mingora, Swat District, Pakistan, to Ziauddin Yousafzai, an education activist and school principal, and Toor Pekai Yousafzai. Growing up in a lower-middle-class Pashtun family, she was named after the Afghan folk heroine Malalai of Maiwand and quickly developed a passion for learning, influenced by her father's Khushal Public School for girls. Amid the Taliban's rising control in Swat Valley from 2008, which banned girls' education, Malala began blogging anonymously for BBC Urdu at age 11 under the pseudonym Gul Makai, vividly documenting daily life under oppression, including school closures and military conflicts like the Second Battle of Swat in 2009. Her courage earned early recognition, including Pakistan's National Youth Peace Prize in 2011, as she publicly advocated for girls' rights despite mounting threats.
On October 9, 2012, at age 15, Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman on a school bus in Swat, an assassination attempt ordered by militant leader Mullah Fazlullah for her activism. The bullet traveled through her neck and shoulder, leaving her in critical condition; she underwent emergency surgery in Pakistan before being airlifted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK, on October 15. Emerging from a coma after weeks of treatment, including a skull reconstruction on February 2, 2013, Malala made a remarkable recovery, regaining 96% facial nerve function by 2014. The attack ignited global outrage, prompting UN petitions, celebrity support from figures like Angelina Jolie, and Pakistan's ratification of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act in November 2012; the perpetrators faced trials, with Fazlullah killed in a 2018 U.S. airstrike.
Relocating to Birmingham, Malala continued her education, excelling with top GCSE grades in 2015 and graduating from Oxford University in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in June 2020. She co-founded the Malala Fund in 2013 to champion girls' education worldwide, opening schools for Syrian refugees in Lebanon in 2015 and advocating for Rohingya rights and Gaza reconstruction. Her global platform peaked with the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, shared with Kailash Satyarthi, making her the youngest laureate at 17; she addressed the UN on "Malala Day" in 2013, authored bestsellers like I Am Malala (2013) and We Are Displaced (2018), and earned honors including the Sakharov Prize (2013) and honorary Canadian citizenship (2017). A self-identified feminist and socialist, she critiqued issues from drone strikes to Taliban bans on girls' schooling.
Malala married Asser Malik, a Pakistan Cricket Board manager, on November 9, 2021, in Birmingham, where she supports Birmingham City F.C. and practices Sunni Islam, advocating for women's autonomy in choices like clothing. In 2021, she partnered with Apple TV+ for educational programming and made her acting debut in We Are Lady Parts in 2024. Recent efforts include reaffirming support for Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas conflict in 2023–2024 and posting on social media as late as February 2025. Aspiring to become Pakistan's prime minister, Malala returned to her homeland in 2018 for the first time since the attack, continuing to inspire through the Malala Fund and calls for ceasefires in Afghanistan and beyond.
DISCLAIMER: All ticket sales for events are final. Please remember that your purchase represents your commitment to attend an event — there will be NO refunds issued.