Documentary Educational Resources - Geography / Middle East / Afghanistan / All Films

Two Poets and a River

Thu, 9 Mar 2023 13:37:42 GMT

Two Poets and a River
Buy Now: $320.00

Using the Oxus river as a topos, this film explores themes of love and loss through the lives and musical poetry of the two most prominent and innovative Wakhi musicians in Central and South Asia, Qurbonsho in Tajikistan and Daulatsho in Afghanistan. In the 19th century their Wakhan homeland became a buffer zone between Czarist Russia and the British Empire and the river Oxus became a border. The condition of being separated by a river grounds the poets’ discussions of love and loss in their own lives as well as in their musical arts. Richard Wolf shot the film over 2.5 years (2012-2020).

The Deluxe Edition 2-disc set includes a Blu-ray featuring the 75-min festival cut and 124-min director’s cut, a CD soundtrack of music in Wakhi, Tajik, Persian, and Dari languages, and an accompanying booklet with songtexts and translations.

Selected Screenings & Awards

Martello Award, Cinque Ports International Film Festival, France and England, 2023

Middle Eastern Studies Association Film Festival, Montreal, 2023

Association for Asian Studies Film Expo, USA, 2023

RAI Film Festival, Bristol, UK, 2023

ICTM Prize for Best Documentary Film or Video, Int'l Council for Traditional Music, Portugal, 2022

Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, USA, 2022

Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival, UK, 2022

Madrid International Film Festival, Spain, 2022

International Multicultural Film Festival, Australia, 2022

Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum, University of London, UK, 2022

Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, USA, 2022

Department of Film and Television, National College of Arts, Pakistan, 2022

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Faces of Change: Afghanistan

Fri, 7 Sep 2018 09:20:00 GMT

Faces of Change: Afghanistan
Buy Now: $495.00

Shot in 1972, these five films present a portrait of Afghan life in the last months before the Russian invasion.The films capture the daily economic and social exchanges in the market town of Aq Kapruk, an area inhabited by Tajik and other Central Asian peoples, 320 miles northwest of Kabul.

Situated along Balkh River, this agricultural community depended primly on wheat farming and a pastoral economy. These films offer a window into an Afghanistan on the cusp of change, and serve as a record of the culture and life ways of its rural people.

"These five films portray different aspects of technology, economic arrangements and social life in the village of Aq Kupruk in northern Afghanistan. The area is hilly, intensely arid, the elevation is about 2000 feet, the population consists mainly of Tajikagriculturalists. There is a substantial bazaar at Aq Kupruk and the valley lies on the migration track of Pushtun pastoral nomads. Clearly the area comprises the three main segments of Afghan society: the bazaar sector, the farmers, and the nomads."
— Asen Balikci, American Anthropologist, 1977

Films in the Afghanistan series

About the Faces of Change Collection

Faces of Change is comprised of 25 films that examine five cultures selected for their distinct geographic locations: starting with the China Coast at sea level and moving up to Taiwan, then to Afghanistan, Kenya and finally to the mountains of Bolivia. Each location is examined through five themes: Rural Society, Education, Rural Economy, Women, and Beliefs.

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

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Naim and Jabar

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:11:00 GMT

Naim and Jabar
Buy Now: $495.00

The hopes, fears, and aspirations of adolescence are expressed in the close friendship of two Afghan boys. As their acceptance of the filmmakers leads them to express their feelings more and more openly, the film grows rich in fact and themes of universal concern.

Filmed in the Balkh Province, an area inhabited by Tajik and other Central Asian peoples. The town of Aq Kupruk is approximately 320 miles northwest of Kabul. The theme of the film focuses on education and socialization. The film and accompaning instructor notes examine formal and informal learning systems, and how they are changing. Particular attention is paid to the lives of one or two young people in the educational system, to their family and kinship structure, and more broadly to educational policies in the developing world.

Films in the Afghanistan series

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Afghanistan to see additional products in this category.

Postcards from Tora Bora

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:58:00 GMT

Postcards from Tora Bora
Buy Now: $320.00

At the height of the Cold War, the Osman family frantically escapes from Afghanistan while leaving almost everything behind. In the ensuing chaos, their only suitcase filled with family photos is stolen. Now after two decades of living in America, Wazhmah Osman, a young Afghan-American woman returns to her childhood home. Armed only with rapidly fading memories, she recruits some unlikely and reluctant guides to put together the pieces of her past.

On an alternately sad and humorous quest, she encounters confused cabbies, the enthusiastic former minister of the tourism bureau, amuseum director that archives land mines, and a group of angry street vendors. As Wazhmah desperately searches for any tangible evidence of her former life, the journey leads her to many unexpected places. Amidst the rubble and destruction, she finds her estranged father who in the aftermath of war choose his country over his family.

On the road, Wazhmah frequently finds herself at a strange intersection where cultures clash, identities are mistaken, and the past violently collides with the present. The filmmakers incorporate recovered Super 8 home movies and family photos that offer a rare and unprecedented look at 1960s and 1970s pre-war Afghanistan. Travel brochures are animated to reveal the country's peaceful past. Drawings by orphan children are animated to illustrate the Soviet invasion and subsequent wars. Interviews with Wazhmah's family and on the ground interviews with shopkeepers, teachers, orphans, and soldiers bring to light Wazhmah's personal journey and the country's current situation.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

AAA/Society for Visual Anthropology Film, Video & Multimedia Festival, 2009

Tribeca Film Festival, 2007

Mill Valley Film Festival, 2007

Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, 2007

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Sons of Haji Omar

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 07:46:00 GMT

Sons of Haji Omar
Buy Now: $320.00

Haji Omar and his three sons belong to the Lakankhel, a Pashtoon tribal group in northeastern Afghanistan. The film focuses on his family: Haji Omar, the patriarch; Anwar, the eldest, his father's favorite, a pastoralist and expert horseman; Jannat Gul, cultivator and ambitious rebel; and Ismail, the youngest, attending school with a view to a job as a government official.

Filmed over a period of twelve months, it is a record of life at the spring lambing camp, the activities at Narim Bazaar, where the caravan stocks up for the long trek, and the slow ascent to the summer grazing grounds. The spring camp is not far from the provincial center, Baghlan. In May and June they move to mountain pastures in the Hindu Kush. Haji Omar's family home is near the small market town of Narin, sequences show life in the bazaar, classes in the high school and dealings with government officials.

The film ends with the fierce Buskashi games, when the nomads are back in their winter home. In concentrating on relations within one family, and through appropriate use of interviews and conversations, the film manages to draw sharp, colorful portraits of the protagonists and their problems. The film is an authentic, evocative and beautiful account of a little known region and way of life.

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Wheat Cycle

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:26:00 GMT

Wheat Cycle
Buy Now: $495.00

The people and their labor are bound to the land in the cycle of activities to the sowing to the harvesting of wheat. Without narration or subtitles, the film conveys a sense of unity between the people and the land. Filmed in the Balkh Province, an area inhabited by Tajik and other Central Asian peoples. The town of Aq Kupruk is approximately 320 miles northwest of Kabul.

The theme of Wheat Cycle focuses on rural economies. The film and accompanying instructor notes focus on herding and fishing under diverse environmental conditions. The impact of technological change, human adaptation, and governmental extension of market systems are parallel themes.

Films in the Afghanistan series

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Afghanistan to see additional products in this category.

Afghan Nomads

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:30:00 GMT

Afghan Nomads
Buy Now: $495.00

At dawn a nomad caravan descends on Aq Kupruk from the foothills of the Hindu Kush. In their camp, and in commerce with the townspeople, the Maldar reveal the mixture of faith and distrust that has kept nomads and sedentary people separate and interdependent over the centuries.

The theme of the film focuses on political and religious beliefs. The film and accompanying instructor notes in this series embrace five different and complex units of analysis concerning how political change occurs; individual attitudes, ethnic identity, national loyalties, institutional affiliations, and ideological beliefs.

A study guide for Afghan Nomads is available under Resources and Links.

Films in the Afghanistan series

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Afghanistan to see additional products in this category.

An Afghan Village

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:30:00 GMT

An Afghan Village
Buy Now: $495.00

A collage of daily life in Aq Kupruk builds from the single voice that calls the townspeople to prayer, the brisk exchange of the bazaar, communal labor in the fields, and the uninhibited sports and entertainment of rural Afghans.

The theme of the film focuses on rural society. The film and accompanying instructor notes explore concepts of development, modernization, environmental equilibrium, and especially change, identifying change agents, and analyzing barriers and stimulants to change.

Films in the Afghanistan series

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Afghanistan to see additional products in this category.

Afghan Women

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:30:00 GMT

Afghan Women
Buy Now: $495.00

The words of the women and the rhythm of their lives in the seclusion of family compounds suggests both the satisfying and the limiting aspects of a woman's role in a rural Afghan community. Filmed in the Balkh Province, an area inhabited by Tajik and other Central Asian peoples. The town of Aq Kupruk is approximately 320 miles northwest of Kabul.The theme of the film focuses on women. The film and accompanying instructor notes examine the economic, political, religious, and educational status of women, their legal and customary rights, and the degree of change in their actual and perceived roles.

Films in the Afghanistan series

About the Faces of Change Collection

This innovative collection of 16mm films and videos was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced by Norman Miller and directed by some of the finest ethnographic filmmakers of its time.

Visit Afghanistan to see additional products in this category.

Amir: An Afghan Refugee Musician's Life

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:30:00 GMT

Amir: An Afghan Refugee Musician's Life
Buy Now: $320.00

Between 1973 and 1977 John Baily carried out extensive ethnomusicological fieldwork on the urban music of Afghanistan, particularly in the western city of Herat. In 1985, he traveled to Peshawar to film Afghan refugees who were musicians and again met his old friend Amir Mohammad, from Herat.

The film portrays aspects of Amir's life as a refugee - his living conditions in Peshawar and his longing to return to Herat. It is also about Amir's life as a professional musician and his relationships with other musicians in Peshawar. Musical performances include resistance songs at a Pakistani wedding.

"It is a poignant production. The plight of refugees comes through and should leave no-one indifferent."
— Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, UN Co-ordinator Operation Salam

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Award of Excellence, Society for Visual Anthropology, 1989

Prix Special de Jury, Bilan Ethnographique, Musee de l'Homme, 1986

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