In the national category, a short film entitled ‘The Last President,’ directed by a young Afghan filmmaker, Jamil Jalah, won the best film award. This production centred on a man’s dilemma over whom to vote for in a presidential election. The best male actor award went to Sayed Murtaza Alavi for his performance as the lead in ‘The Last President.’
The festival started on 5 October in Kabul and the central Afghan province of Bamyan, simultaneously. Over six days, a total of 65 documentary, fictional and animation productions centred on the issues of human rights, in short- and long-formats, were showcased. The films were selected out of 380 submissions from all over the world, including countries in the region such as Iran, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and India. Of the productions submitted for screening at the festival, 24 films were produced in Afghanistan.
A five-member jury, made up of international film experts, reviewed the films and selected the top eight on the basis of their artistic merit and human rights themes and messaging. In addition to awards, the winning filmmakers received cash prizes.
In the international category, an Armenian feature film by Natalya Belyauskene, ‘If Only Everyone,’ won the best film award. The film told the story of a young Russian woman who, after deciding to plant a tree on the grave of her deceased father, ends up on an unusual road trip that raises questions about the past, guilt and mistakes, while also portraying a range of Armenian rituals and traditions.
Another short film, ‘Namzad’ (transl. Der Kandidat) won the second prize in the international category. Directed by Yosef Baraki, a young Afghan-Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto, the film was about a single mother who tries to save her polio-stricken son from the horrors of Nazi eugenics.
A documentary film, ‘Finding Hillywood,’ by Leah Warshawski, won the third prize in the same category. Set amongst the hills of Rwanda, this documentary chronicled one man’s road to forgiveness, his efforts to heal his country and deal with his past.
Two other short documentary films, ‘The Broken Destiny of Poetry’ by Rahmatullah Haidari and ‘Black Democracy’ by Sayed Qasim Huseini, were given special awards.
In the student film category, the short film ‘Sadat goes to Mazaar’ by Wais Sanjar and Khadem Hussain took out the top prize. ‘Snore’ by Arif Mohebbi and ‘A Letter from My Son’ by Azizullah Payanda won second and third prizes in this category, respectively.
There was a three-way tie in the best actress category, with Lina Alam, Sabira Rezai and Freshta Kazimi sharing the top spot for their performances. Sadat Behnam won the best child actor award for his performance in ‘Sadat Goes to Mazaar.’
The festival was an initiative of the Afghanistan Cinematic Club (BASA), and is supported by several national and international organizations, including the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The theme of this year’s festival was ‘We dream of a red apple that is shared with every citizen of the world.’
UNAMA’s role involved its Human Rights and its Strategic Communications and Spokespersons’ Units, which provided technical support and production advice to the festival’s organizers and some of the filmmakers, in addition to holding workshops – which took place during the festival – focused on various human rights issues and the role that film can play in relation to human rights, especially on women’s right.
The first Afghanistan Human Rights Film Festival was held in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif in 2011. That event was also the first film festival held in a Central Asian country. The week-long event screened 32 Afghan and 18 foreign films, out of a total of 200 productions which were submitted.
News source UNAMA
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