(objects clattering)
(machine whirring)
(soft music)
(Mariam): So many aspects
of Afghan culture
have been systematically
destroyed, or erased,
or forgotten.
The Afghan films archive
has been preserved,
almost entirely intact,
through all of these years,
where so many other things
were b*rned,
were looted,
or blown up.
(soft music)
The Afghan Films archive,
through the efforts
of the people who work there,
who felt so strongly
about the work that they did,
they managed to preserve
these films
and these records
of all of these other
Afghanistans that existed
before this recent
period of iconoclasm
and destruction.
Because they believed
these films
had something to give
to the present moment.
(film reel clicking)
(cars honking in the distance)
(helicopter whirring)
(soft flute music)
(birds chirping)
(seagulls calling)
(city soundscape)
(horns honking)
- I'm always interested
in archives as an artist,
as a filmmaker,
and as a teacher.
And I've been making work
in and about Afghanistan
for a number of years.
And for me it was
really exciting to find out
that Afghanistan has this
incredibly rich and deep
cinematic history,
of which I was totally unaware.
And then to realize that...
most other people
were also totally unaware of it,
it was like finding
a hidden treasure.
And then thinking,
"Here's something
I can actually do
to start bringing some
of those histories
back into circulation."
(drumming, crowd chattering)
What is really extraordinary
about looking at these films
is that they all tell us
something really important
about Afghanistan as a nation,
and how it envisioned itself
at the moment that those films
were made.
(carnival music, cheering)
(indistinct conversation)
(energetic music)
(singing in foreign language)
(soft string music)
(Middle Eastern music)
(soft guitar music)
(Mariam): When I first went
to the Afghan Films archive,
the physical plant
of the building
was really deteriorating
so they had actual
leaks in the archive.
And we were really
out of luck
in trying to figure out
what was available to see.
(soft music)
(man speaking foreign language)
(birds chirping)
(indistinct chattering)
(Middle Eastern music)
(horse galloping)
(horse whinnying)
(Mariam): Engineer Latif
is the most prolific
Afghan director.
Probably the most beloved one,
as well,
among his peers, and I think
also among
the younger generation
of Afghan filmmakers.
(horse whinnying)
Because he's made films
that are touchstones,
like Epic of Love.
And because he made
at least one film a year
for so many years.
(whirring)
(eerie music)
(soft music, deep male vocals)
(upbeat music)
(indistinct chattering)
It's so good to see you.
- Nice to see you.
(Mariam):... the original
building from '68.
My father's the president
of Afghanistan.
So there are security concerns.
But it does, I think,
open some doors.
Not at the archive,
necessarily,
because I've been working
with them for so long,
it predates my father
having this job.
But it does give
the possibility to help them
with certain things.
I think it's important
for these films to be
more widely available
in Afghanistan
and I want to help
Afghan Films
to digitize the entire archive.
And of course, the first stage
of doing anything
like digitization
is to try to understand
what you actually have.
(upbeat string music)
(Mariam): The view
of Afghanistan
outside Afghanistan
is so monolithic.
And I think,
the earlier Afghanistans
that existed...
Afghan intellectualism,
Afghan modernism,
Afghan leftism...
All of these other histories
are actually present
in this archive.
And to see them acted out
on film,
it really changes the way
that people think
about Afghanistan.
(soft flute music)
We've been seeing it,
especially in the past
few years,
these incidents
of really extreme v*olence.
And it's important
to be reminded
that there were decades
when Afghanistan
was not a place
where v*olence was normal.
(children singing)
(birds singing)
(background chatter)
(camera clicking)
(camera clicking)
(singing in foreign language)
(Middle Eastern music)
(drums b*ating, trumpeting)
(soft flute music)
(pop rock music)
(music gradually fades out)
(woman singing
in foreign language)
(children playing)
(plane taking flight)
(dramatic music)
(explosions)
(crowd shouting)
(helicopter whirring)
(car honking)
(soft clarinet music)
(crowd shouting)
(children singing an anthem)
- This is... negative.
No, positive.
(woman): Yes, it's positive.
(blues music)
You see very different
kinds of films being made
at different times.
This is a history
and a series of historical
shifts that you can trace.
And it's one of the reasons
that the archive is so valuable
and it provides such
an important, kind of,
way to look at Afghan history
that is impossible to find
anywhere else.
And what's valuable about it
is not only what you see
on the film,
but how the films were made.
You know, all the clues
that are embedded,
and how the films were made,
and how they
were made differently
in the different times.
(woman singing
in foreign language)
(woman humming softly)
(soft chiming music)
(man singing)
(Mariam): Afghan films
is a state film institute.
So, the scripts all had
to pass through approval
by a censorship board.
But, I think, very much unlike
what you see in China
during the same kind of period
where things were attributed
to a workshop,
you can't really fit
the communist feature films
from Afghanistan
into a series
of authorless films,
because they are very much
the product of singular
artistic visions.
(soft music, cars honking)
(Mariam): There are particular
films that I saw
and I just fell in love
with those films.
For example, Akhtar the Joker
by Engineer Latif
is an extraordinary film
and I've never seen
anything else like it.
Beginning with this direct
address to the camera,
by Faqir Nabi playing Akhtar.
And he's this completely
unreliable narrator
of his own life.
And you can see why
they would ask for this project
to be made
based on Zariyab's novel
because it is a real
excoriation of the decadence
of a certain western-influenced
bourgeoisie
during the mid '70s
(Akhtar speaking)
(laughing)
And the character of Akhtar
is this young man
from the working-class
who has, sort of, adopted,
almost as a mascot,
by a family from this
upper-class.
And it's a really
tragic story.
(screaming)
(laughing)
(snipping)
(percussive march music)
(jets roaring)
(laughing wickedly)
(fighter jets roaring)
(explosions)
(people shouting,
chanting in the distance)
(eerie music)
(cell door rattling)
(people shouting on television)
(man on TV): The choruses sung
by the youth,
and social organizations,
are valuable memories
of the universal unity
of the people of Afghanistan,
for the support
of the liberating
south revolution,
and is indicative
of unshakeable unity
(cheering, shouting)
(all): Allahu Akbar!
Allahu Akbar!
(soft a capella, male vocals)
(singing continues)
(indistinct chattering)
(waves lapping, birds chirping)
(soft, deep music)
(expl*si*n)
(shouting, g*nshots in distance)
(cars honking)
(soft music, crickets chirping)
(wind blowing)
(eerie chiming music)
(soft flute music, drumming)
(indistinct chattering)
(Mariam): When you go
to Afghan Films
and you look at the archives,
all along, you see this
long history of really
improvised filmmaking
because at no point
do Afghan filmmakers
really have access to
a lot of technical equipment.
But I think during
the communist period
it gets much worse,
because the country is at w*r,
and only inside the cities,
does the regime actually
have control.
(Mariam): So only in Kabul
can they actually control
the locations
that they're sh**ting in.
And for certain films...
they do need to leave Kabul
in order to get the sh*t
(Middle Eastern music)
(soft romantic music)
(Mariam): If you talk to people
who were actually party members
a lot of them also will express
to you the feeling
that that period was like
being on a runaway train,
where no one knew
at the beginning
where things would end up.
And there was a moment,
there was a moment
at the beginning of the period
when there was a genuine
investment from a lot of people
in this leftist dream.
But it deteriorated
very quickly.
But by that point,
it was also dangerous
to detach yourself from it
if you were operating
in an official capacity,
which the people
at Afghan Films were.
of the counter-revolutionary
elements,
located beyond our frontiers
inside Pakistan.
The first nucleus
of the counter-revolutionaries
emerged from here.
The assistance of Washington
provided new tasks
for CIA agents
in the frontier of Pakistan.
The unveiling
of the sinister intentions
of the enemies of
the revolution.
encouraged our people
to voluntarily take up arms
and to wipe out
these inhuman and sad acts
with the help of unity
and oneness.
The roads and highways
are open.
The life-enduring blood
of the revolution
is slowing in the veins of
the free people of this land.
(jazzy music)
(soft music, male vocals)
(g*nshots, distant shouting)
(t*nk revving)
(distant g*nf*re)
(machinegun f*ring, shouting)
(birds chirping)
(soft clarinet music)
(suspenseful music)
(sirens wailing)
(cars honking)
(helicopter whirring)
- Like this, is it 'cause,
like, there's something wrong
with the film?
- Yes.
- Can you fix that stuff?
- It depends. It depends
what the problem was.
- Yeah.
(Mariam): I've always believed
that you can't preserve
an archive
by locking it up.
Especially not by locking
it up in a place
where it's far too easy for it
to be physically destroyed.
And I think
the Afghan Films archive
is always going to be
under some thr*at,
as long as Afghanistan remains
somewhat unstable.
And I believe that the only way
that it can truly be preserved
is for it to proliferate.
For people to know about it.
For many, many copies
to circulate.
(energetic music)
(Russian anthem playing)
(helicopter whirring)
(soft flute music)
(Middle Eastern flute music)
(indistinct conversation)
(shouting, distant g*nf*re)
(g*nf*re)
(man singing
in foreign language)
(singing continues)
(projector rattling)
(horse galloping)
(Middle Eastern music)
(soft music)
(soft string music)
(suspenseful music)
(film reel rattling)
(indistinct chattering)
(soft saxophone music)
(chattering)
(slow eerie music)
(distant g*nf*re)
(g*nf*re continues)
(g*nf*re)
(ballroom music)
(soft music)
(phone ringing)
(whimpering)
(loud explosions)
(footsteps racing)
(g*nf*re)
(glass shattering)
(men shouting
in foreign language)
(distant g*nshots)
(g*nf*re sound fading)
(low rumbling)
(slow celestial music)
(music continues)
(celestial music)
(wind blowing gently)
(cart rattling)
(echoing Middle Eastern music)
(soft flute music)
(soft flute music)
(Mariam): There was
no government really
commissioning them
to make films anymore,
but they continued to film
all the way up until '96.
And at a certain point, I think
their project became
very personal.
And that's what the house
of history sort of represents,
I think it's one of the most
personal films
in the Afghan Films archive.
It's really an essay film
about the destruction of Kabul.
And it sort of shifts
about halfway through
into a lament
for the destruction
of the Kabul Museum,
the Archeological Museum,
and how it represents
the destruction
of all of these other
histories of Afghanistan,
all of the non-Islamic
histories.
(quiet music,
wind blowing gently)
(low rumbling)
(wind blowing)
(distant shouting)
(tape rewinding)
(man in film chuckling)
(overlapping chattering
on television)
(overlapping chattering
on television)
(upbeat Middle Eastern music)
(music fading)
(eerie music)
(suspenseful music)
(soft piano music)
(loud explosions)
(television playing
in background)
(fire crackling)
(gate squeaking)
(overlapping chattering)
(greetings in foreign language)
(birds chirping)
(men conversing
in foreign language)
(soft flute music)
(Middle Eastern music)
(horse galloping)
(birds singing)
(children's voices echoing)
(energetic music)
(car honking,
bicycle bell ringing)
(Mariam): Well I think
Afghanistan is at a stage now
where pieces of its history
are starting to resurface
into the sayable
from the unspeakable.
When you're coming out
of a period of intense conflict
there are parts of the past
that are untouchable.
And then gradually,
gradually, gradually,
they become things
that you can look at
and speak about again.
So I think, you know,
we're emerging
into a period in Afghanistan
where it's not becoming
possible again
to talk about the communist
period with some kind of...
... some kind of honesty
and completeness
that was not possible
even five years ago.
And certainly not ten years ago.
But, for example,
we still can't talk about
the Mujahideen...
... period that way.
We certainly can't talk about
the Taliban years that way yet.
They're too close still.
But I think...
archives are incredibly
important for that reason
because in an archive,
you sort of conceal off
these histories.
And keep them until the moment
when it's safe
to look at them again.
(wind blowing)
(woman singing
in foreign language)
(singing continues)
Forbidden Reel (2019)
Moderator: Maskath3