THIS SHORT FILM IS AVAILABLE ONLY IN COMBINATION WITH THE FIRST VIEWING STREEEN DI INSTALLMENT NEEDED (Daniele Gaglianone, 176′, 2008, Italy)
Afghan filmmaking is relatively recent, dating back virtually to the post-World War II era. In the 60s, Afghan Film was founded in Kabul, the state-owned film production company, with its own filming, development, and editing facilities. It remained operational throughout the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, from 1977 to 1989.
After the Taliban captured Kabul, cinema, like other art forms that depict the human body, was banned. The hundreds of prints, negatives, and original film footage were burned and destroyed.
With the American intervention following September 11, the Taliban abandoned Kabul in 2002.
Some films are found, hidden at the risk of their lives by the directors themselves or by Afghan Film staff.
The documentary project, born from an idea by Maurizio Perrone of Route1, a project later entrusted to Daniele Gaglianone for a film that never saw the light of day, was to tell the recent history of Afghanistan through those films, with the support of original footage and interviews with young Afghan refugees and the directors who had shot those films and, in several cases, had hidden copies.
The proposition of this documentary is dedicated to Maurizio Perrone, recently deceased, and his commitment as an independent film producer for the companies Route1 e Lunafilm, from Turin.