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The Fruit of Our Labor: Afghan Perspectives in Film

United States Institute of Peace

February 25th, 2011

Christopher R. Mantas

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) held a conference, moderated by USIP
Program Officer for Afghanistan, Barmak Pazhwak, about the ongoing mission of
Community Supported Film (CSFilm), a documentary film organization aimed at
influencing local and international perspectives on paths to peace, and its latest
efforts in dissecting the impact of foreign aid on local communities in Afghanistan.
In order to be granted increased access and illustrate local perspectives, CSFilm, led
by documentary filmmaker Michael Sheridan, utilized an “empowerment strategy”
of training local Afghans in filmmaking and storytelling to culminate in an unbridled
depiction of challenges currently being faced on the ground. Ten locals were
selected by three main criteria: an avid interest/background in storytelling (not
filmmaking); an active participation in international aid issues; and relating the skills
they will learn in this process to their own work in the future. All three main ethnic
groups, Pashtuns, Tajiks, and Hazaras, were represented in the program. After a five
week intensive training course, selectees chose their topics and began filming.
Three short films were shown.

The first film viewed at USIP was ‘L’ is for Light, ‘D’ is for Darkness, by Hasibullah
Asmaty. This short film analyzed the post-Taliban environment in a local
community, where there was no girl’s school in the village. A local woman named
Wazeema, was the catalyst for change. Wazeema mobilized women in the village to
appreciate the importance of educating their daughters and pressured men to allow
girls their right to education. The local Mullah supported Wazeema’s cause,
preaching that every Muslim deserves an education. However, remnants of Taliban
ideology dampen Wazeema’s hopes of having all local girls attend school.

The second film, Hands of Health, by Zahra Sadat, surveyed the effects of the
National Solidarity Project (NSP), a community development initiative aimed at
providing communities funding for projects they deem most vital. In the film,
villagers who elected the construction of a maternity clinic for the village are
dismayed over the lack of medical equipment or doctors in the now-complete
facility. Local women are forced to travel to Kabul for care, a long trip which
oftentimes prevents women from receiving medical attention. The Ministry of
Health, which pledged the Men’s Development Council equipment and doctors upon
completion of the facility, does not appear concerned.

The last film shown at USIP was Water Ways, by Majeed Zarand. This film highlights
the major disparity between neighboring villages, one of which has access to water
and one which does not. Villagers in the community without water are forced to be
day-laborers to provide food for their families, but unable to work on a solution to
their water issues while working all day. The neighboring villagers have utilized
funding from the NSP to improve their canal to make access to water easier. This
dichotomy highlights the effects of natural resources and the importance of self-
sustainability in rural communities.