Afghanistan
and Film: Internationalist Cinema
The act of making a film is an inherently cultural process, creating
a specific, subjective and crafted representation of the people and
events recorded. Yet an impression of "authenticity" remains
a primary goal of filmmaking, and especially documentary filmmaking.
To what extent does the filmmaker's personal and cultural familiarity
with the subject affect her ability to make a politically meaningful
film? In the age of universal human rights and the new internationalist
cinema, does a filmmaker's identity or even her 'cultural difference'
make a difference?
The
example of post 9-11 Afghanistan and its re-emergent film industry
offers an instructive case study of these questions. Under the Taliban,
filmmaking - and indeed any cultural representation - was criminalized,
and all existing footage destroyed or hidden. The links that follow
trace the extraordinary re-emergence of Afghan film after the fall
of the Taliban, as well as the rise of 'outsider' films about Afghanistan
that focus on its post 9-11 global political significance, As the
links show, new Afghan cinema provides an interesting case study
of the reinforcing mutual influence between 'outsider' films about
Afghanistan and the country's own emerging fledgeling domestic film
industry. But in multiple ways, post 9-11 Afghan film also conflates
notions of global and local, internationalist and nationalist cinema,
outsider and insider perspectives --- in ways that disrupt conventional
views of film imperialism, colonization and even media globalization.
Film in - and of - Afghanistan offers an extraordinary lens through
which to explore ideas of new internationalism, insider views, and
even cultural subjectivity in film production.
|
Afghan
Massacre: The Convoy of Death (dir. Jamie Doran)
Dateline
Afghanistan: Reporting the Forgotten War (dir. Bill Gentile)
Afghan
Stories (dir. Taran Davies)
To
order
If
I stand Up (dir. Shekeba Adil)
Baran
(dir. Majid Majidi)
Search
For Freedom (dir. Munizae Jahangir)
Afghanistan
Unveiled (dir. Brigitte Brault)
Afghanistan:
Lost Truth (dir. Yassamin Maleknasr)
Jung
(War): In the Land of the Mujaheddin (dir. Fabrizio Lazzaretti,
Alberto Vendamiatti)
|
