The Afghan Brigade

Rising from the strife-ridden Afghanistan is a new wave of cinema that serves as a window offering a peek into Afghan way of life which is, but not just about, Taliban, the wars and the after-effects. They are films of hope, change and determination

Rima Kohli, an Indian from Mumbai was in Afghanistan until last July. Along with a friend she set up an NGO, “Future Brilliance” that encourages youngsters to take up a vocation that they like and she has brought along with her Afghan delegation (some of the filmmakers’ films are showing at the ICFFI) to the International Children’s Theatre Festival. While she has sent many films from the region, three were selected for the festival that include the short films – “Children of Kabul: Bricks and Dreams made by Jawad; Khelwat (Uncrowded) made by Ali and “Pesaran-e-Buzkashi (Buzkashi Boys) made by Sam French, a US filmmaker.

“I met festival director Shravan Kumar in July and expressed my wish to see more of Afghan representation in the festival. There is so much viewership for Indian films there and I see it as all the more reason for the two countries to share a platform like this,” said Rima.

Sharing more about the making of the film which is more of a documentary, Jawad relates, “The film tells you about the life of four kids from the streets of Kabul that represent the 1.4 million Afghan child labour. The goal was to create awareness on the issues that plague Afghanistan. To bring out real voices that have become insignificant, the other side of war, about the lives affected with war. We have raised funds through screening this film and we have been able to fund education and support over 15 families in Afghanistan.”

Jawad’s film was screened in eight festivals in the US and in Russia, Finland, Denmark, Canada and many other countries. His next film is going to be a follow-up on ‘Children of Kabul’ and is going to show the growing up years of one of the boys, Omaid, who earns his living by washing the cars near US Embassy. He has an amazing story to tell and his mother is very articulate,” he adds.

Jawad left Kabul when he was eleven and was to study Business in one of the top universities in the US. Before joining the university, he visited Kabul and what he saw was an improvement in the situation. “The visit brought back memories. I saw there were so many problems too. Child labour was a major issue that some how the government chose to ignore, so I went back and changed my specialisation to filmmaking and returned to make films. As I am also part of them, I find it easy to relate and people are more open to sharing their issues.”

S Ali Mousavi ‘Azad’s film ‘Uncrowded’ is about a young boy who wants to build a house to beat boredom, but faces various hurdles in the process. When he manages to build one, it topples over. He collects the rubble and walks away to build another one. “This film is not just for children, but for everyone who has a goal in their life,” says Ali.

Paeman Arianfais, another young filmmaker, is also an actor. Although his film is not being screened at the fest, he is enthusiastic about learning as much as possible from viewing films from across the world. “Unfortunately, the television content of our country is not much different from India,” he shares.