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Two Afghan filmmakers ask for help at Venice film festival

2021-09-05T02:53:58.144Z


The contest hosts a meeting with the directors Sahraa Karimi and Sahra Mani to reflect on the tragedy of the country and the difficult situation of the artists


The Venice Film Festival has tried this Saturday to get out of its bubble for a while and put the microphone, for once, instead of the stars, to those who are starring in the tragic reality.

Thus, the film contest hosted a meeting with two Afghan directors, Sahraa Karimi and Sahra Mani, to analyze the drama suffered by their country after the return to power of the Taliban.

To the headlines about the dead and the escaped, and the threats to women that fill newspapers and newscasts, the creators contributed their personal story.

More information

  • United Nations convenes an international conference to aid Afghanistan on September 13

  • Afghan Government Crumbles After Taliban Arrives In Kabul

“On August 15 I started my day normally.

I got up, put on my makeup, got dressed, and got going.

But, a few hours later [when the fundamentalist militia entered the capital, Kabul], I had to make the most difficult decision of my life: leave or stay.

I saw my country and my dreams collapse.

It's not about me, or about a few directors, but about a whole young generation in Afghanistan.

In two weeks, the most talented and promising minds have left, ”said Karimi, director of

Parlika

and first president of the Afghan Film Organization.

The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, also warned of the "imminent human catastrophe" in the face of the exodus and the bankruptcy of Afghanistan and called an aid conference for September 13. This is an advance in line with the wishes of Karimi, who just a month ago launched a request for help addressed to the international community. “Now the Taliban show the softer side, but they are not like that. They are cruel as before, and smarter, ”he reiterated at the meeting. And Giuliano Battiston, a journalist specialized in the country who moderated the talk, explained that, hidden behind the military conflict, there is another "social and cultural" one.

“Working on a movie in Afghanistan was never easy.

We had the most corrupt government in the world.

We often find ourselves without electricity, and without the Internet.

You have to ask for endless permits.

When we went to work, there was shelling everywhere.

Every time I left the house I would look at my things and think: 'Will this be the last time I see them?'

He was always afraid of dying.

It wasn't easy, but we didn't go away.

Now, however, we have been left with nothing, "lamented Mani.

Despite everything, with her cinema, the director has tried to denounce the difficulties experienced in the country.

On August 15 I started my day normally.

I got up, put on my makeup, got dressed, and got going.

But, a few hours later [when the fundamentalist militia entered the capital, Kabul], I had to make the most difficult decision of my life: leave or stay.

Sahraa Karimi, director

Her documentary

Thousand Girls Like Me

tells the story of a woman, a victim for years of her father's abuse, to whom justice also turns its back. The first music school that brought together boys and girls, which he portrayed in

Kaloo School

, has now suffered the Taliban's envestment: “They have occupied it, they have broken everything, the students have hidden or some have fled. Maybe those kids will be taught to be terrorists instead of musicians. " The director also offered the recent example of an artist, detained just because he was playing an instrument: “It's happening, right now. And it's a shame ”.

“In the 21st century, people suddenly enter your country and tell you: 'Movies and music are forbidden. And the artists must be cornered ”, added Karimi. And she recounted the progress that Afghan cinema had made little by little: she listed several projects that she herself had underway, as a creator and producer, recalled the historic debut of a national work at the Cannes festival, the birth of a national award and a recent short film competition and, in general, a constant increase in film production. “The directors, and especially the directors, have done a great job representing Afghanistan. We wanted to change the narrative about the country, we were fed up with the clichés. And you can't imagine how difficult it is to make someone from our government understand the importance of cinema, "he added.

All that process, in his opinion, now falters. Or is already lost. So he insisted again: “We do not have a country to tell stories from, to which to dedicate our creative work. We are homeless. We ask you not to forget Afghanistan ”. For now, he received a shower of applause. Although the most important support will be needed in the coming days. And years.

Source: elparis

All life articles on 2021-09-05

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