After 1996, in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Taliban forbade women to work outside the home and required them to appear in public fully covered by a burka. In 2003, following the overthrow of the Taliban, six hairdressers from the United States—three of them refugees from Afghanistan—open a beauty school in Kabul to train Afghan women in makeup, hairstyling and business ownership. With incredible access to the lives of these women, filmmaker Liz Mermin follows the Beauty Academy from its opening through the graduation of its first class, providing an unusual and intriguing look into a society in the midst of profound cultural transformation.  AT