The

Afghan film Afghan Film also known as Afghan Film Organization (AFO) is Afghanistan's state-run film company, established in 1968. The current president is Sahraa Karimi, who attained a PhD in Cinema from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and is i ...

festival in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

was established in 2019 as an annual showcase of

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

cinema in Australia. It takes place in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

and is jointly hosted by the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the ANU Film Group, at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

2019 First Afghan Film Festival

The inaugural Afghan film festival took place between the 15th and 21 November 2019 and was held at the ANU Kambri Precinct Cultural Centre. The festival was opened by Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Australia,

Wahidullah Waissi Wahidullah Waissi is a career Afghan diplomat. He is now serving as the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand and Republic of Fiji. He worked as Director-General for Economic Cooperation ...

. The Afghan Embassy’s co-hosting of the event was part of its commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of Afghan independence, and concurrently the 50th anniversary of official diplomatic relations with Australia. In attendance were diplomats, officials, Afghan filmmakers and ANU students. Numerous classic and contemporary Afghan films were screened, including many directed by Afghan women, as well as various documentaries about

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Afghans in Australia Afghan Australians ( prs, استرالیایی های افغان‌تبار ''Ostorâliyâi-hāye Afghān tabar'', ps, د اسټرالیا افغانان ''Da Asṭrālyā Afghanan'') are Australians tied to Afghanistan either by birth or by ...

Films Screened

*Hava, Maryam and Ayesha, 2019, directed by Sahraa Karimi. *Begana, 1986, directed by

Siddiq Barmak Siddiq Barmak ( fa, صدیق برمک, born September 7, 1962) is an Afghan film director and producer. In 2004, Barmak won Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes for his first feature film, '' Osama''. He received an M.A. degree in cine ...

. *Afghan Cameleers in Australia, 2014, directed by Fahim Hashimy. * Osama, 2004, directed by

. *What I Saw on the Roof of the World, 2019, directed by Parwiz Shamal. * The Orphanage, 2019, directed by

Shahrbanoo Sadat Shahrbanoo Sadat (born in 1991) is an Afghan filmmaker born in Tehran, Iran. Life and career Sadat grew up in Tehran and a remote community in central Afghanistan. She studied documentary filmmaking at the Kabul workshop of Ateliers Varan , an ...

. *

A Letter to the President ''A Letter to the President'' is a 2017 Afghan drama film directed by Roya Sadat. It was selected as the Afghan entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. Plot Soraya, a low-level government o ...

, 2017, directed by

Roya Sadat Roya Sadat (born 1983) is an Afghan film producer and director. She was the first woman director in the history of Afghan cinema in the post-Taliban era, and ventured into making feature films and documentaries on the theme of injustice and restri ...

. *

The Patience Stone ''The Patience Stone'' (french: Syngué sabour. Pierre de patience) is a 2008 novel by the French-Afghan writer Atiq Rahimi. It is also known as ''Stone of Patience''. It received the Prix Goncourt. See also * 2008 in literature * Contemporary ...

, 2012, directed by

Atiq Rahimi Atiq Rahimi ( fa, عتیق رحیمی) (born 26 February 1962 in Kabul) is a French-Afghan writer and filmmaker. Life Atiq Rahimi was born in 1962 in Kabul to a senior public servant and attended high school in Lycée Esteqlal. Following the So ...

. *

Jirga A jirga ( ps, جرګه, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic ...

, 2018, directed by Benjamin Gilmour. * RocKabul, 2018, directed by Travis Beard.

References

{{reflist Film festivals in Australian Capital Territory Events in Canberra