l
3 ’ O . mg“. ._ ' ,0 ' ‘ ‘~0 \ ‘l - ' . .‘D / FESTIVAL
REEL AFGHANISTAN
Festival programmer Tony McKibbin looks at some of the most invigorating films on show at the first ever UK Afghan film festival
For exasperated introductions to the complexities of Afghanistan’s political situation it is difficult to beat Atiq Rahini’s (A)fghanistan: An Impossible State. Rahini simply allows the attending members of a loya jirga (political gathering) to explain the reality of democracy in their country (circa 2002). This film will be accompanied by a very rare screening of Richard Hardware Stanley's ‘Voice of the Moon’, a short film poem about the landlocked south central Asian country.
Rahimi also made Earth and Ashes, adapted from his own novel. This lovely feature is light on dialogue but Rahimi better than anybody captures the country’s recent past. It's a past that includes overbearing interference from close to home (Pakistan and Iran) and further afield - the Soviet Union and the US. Earth and Ashes is a contemplative take on what that history means for a young boy and his grandfather as they break the news to the boy's father that members of the family have just died in a bombing.
If Rahimi is a filmmaker to watch, Siddiq Barmak is
-"‘
48 THE LIST 14—28 Feb 2008
one whose work we already know. His 2003 feature Osama is the Dickensian tale of innovative drag acting from a time when Afghanistan had been bombed back into the Victorian age. Some of Barmak's earlier work can also be seen in this festival‘s Afghan Archive slot.
The festival aims at a mixture of fiction and documentaries, home-grown material and foreign takes on the country (including American and Russian perspectives on Afghanistan - Rambo III and The Ninth Company). Michael Winterbottom’s arduous road movie In This World shows a couple of young boys travelling from Afghanistan and trying to make their way to the UK, while Stray Dogs (pictured) is Iranian director Marzieh Meshkini's heavily symbolic tale of two kids whose parents have been imprisoned by opposing sides.
It all that sounds too bleak there‘s The Beauty Academy of Kabul, a charming documentary exploring the return of beauty salons to the capital. Afghanistan may still in many ways be an impossible state, but it‘s managing to create some remarkable possibilities in the world of film.
I Ree/Afghan/star). /~/,»’m/'2(>u:;t) (2 (In/nun. [ll/flfflltqfl (mm 7/11/21 Fol), V/fllf myLag/exNam/1:1!muntwt; fnr details. A Rumor verso/i of 3/11}; (NT/m} (.k'lf’ in} fun/1r} (if
itrl‘uiyl/sfi.tit MIR til/7:
[MARTA THE ITALIAN (12A) 99min 0000
t’it- Me t'te'rtiréezz'i mirr
Ithilér/Hjtz} ‘li‘tlv'l‘l'r,
.‘.’()lv\lti 1‘_l.‘3'_' "lrrthT(,lilf;‘. unis-Vtvia The threat .5. mm" tum. sill tam/in. Timer { Hm; {1].
"fixes: :met, 221'") tge'te Bur“). “rum/e» T'ne
www.list.co.uk/film
ALSO RELEASED
88min .0.
2.11.:. l "
Jumper (12A)
Gamer: (15) 101 min 0.. Nu :l D
.ityw n-mtn lituliir
"i'H'l 13,1111, )m-‘kg, rainixqtn H'livrl), it'lll‘.
write «it 1311 Mind {Minty-r vlt‘. .inrt [)létKinll‘. t).tllilllt) r lilllllill'lilll“. Sid-t: (1lt“.li'.‘,j (at 1w )1 (,‘i',w.'..vltl. (i.'g1‘.t}r .‘L [ti/rill mm P J'V' {7’ . ’1’
Escape from Luanda (12A) 72min .0. l~./1')‘.Itv;
[1‘ w tirnr‘ntnr‘, .‘.‘lilt,l1T()|lt)\.‘.”,lllll:li I'l.()(;_l:(|‘,)ltr() Amy hm rnii‘w. ‘ililll‘f'll‘
end (it ,m’t' CUM“,er '1) the
.ti‘. llltfll (lb-nan,- lrzr the ’,3)tllitl\, 'lrii, 'llll'n’ 2r linul [JIM/1w l’tiilflrgilmk, l/Ii Um,” '1 l),' ,'..'<).r’(i,'l. Hm fr); )7er I’m; '. “)H f‘wr Hind/yr. t )f [Mn/",an l'. Ill Iris/ii let the Atrilmnmtnn film textual “m .'."H l)‘: “H! llzllltj tr, answer ’1ll‘:‘;TH)ll‘, alum! llll‘. fier (ll the ';r reerunq )r‘ \‘Jednexdn, Pf l ‘tUl'lJll‘, ///,rr,"~>tr'.r2 [rl.'/)l)!;fr;,’?. '.'.4 M} ."f 7'; (“I1
If”)
ga'rftt‘sn? 'Iétur’llilillf}lib?(if:fl.lr‘,?t.‘.’?1/e1lt’1807‘,
lt'tsf)l’)(i1>;ngi"lividxxrwwqflnmnqetnarentnte,'ydfemnlirntaerne'dflhhqn The win; We 1". WV; (1‘ lll't'lf) {wired wilt l); nne at ‘e.'.’ (ISITHN; ’,'}‘l[,r|‘:') keen or“ minim/1n Sun/eel. «ix ,enr ’Wl Vzi'iyzz Kuhn Spin/lune." I‘; one dzr,’ luck, er inildli to he stinger: i), gt putting; ltzilizin Connie. ‘.‘~/liile ne .‘xzut'; fur the papers tn W: mrted
3m,\/21n.ai)<-tims _’}Tl‘|llt<(NM/1.?(‘lSlfzétlTHUTlVfl COW/'ll’ffll that we Ine', under
0‘? rm ill‘
St Potiét'fél)lll’l ruse/.2 ‘mrmker Andrei Kramtrnk'f. tezittire debut l’,é1ll‘:llj’;/Flljl,' dark rnztzinnr 2:1 mm; Ting: f:er malt in the orphanage 7 Hill} :13 ’,’;'l’3hlll[,ll.": :ur and v rimmed t), a feeling r,‘ twpele';‘;rtr,«gz and immanent 0f .-.‘»r;' It; (ml, half deli.'ered. The second tell by COllipafl’50ll 1th danger. ‘Janm becomes :1 Journeyman Oil/er ’,’.'YT(:€1’V1"l‘:‘>()€tll. he earres en. 'lrwen i), blend and ernetIOn. lnl lei-e7). We: x’.":9 H kind of kiddie read rne'xie t'nnt .ve deserxe. r)ne that .clenrx; m the same mp. Cinematographer Aleksandr {Alex/l, ' eeirrirg, ', .erqrnwn, frozen end of [Just r/Jrnrrmnist R1532} ti" ;: '1'”;t<,f)t;"1allst's zeal. 9.1116{ENG-WK?“ (gr/tindrnan Aliakper Gassan- Zade's :rmgflex sotlnd nesgri is 52mm, stinning, Recommended. lPaui Dale;
I Fv'rvrtfme E :'n.’;..rg", Fr" 22~ Tue 26 Feb.