Afghan Film

Afghan Film Organization
Formation1968
Founded atKabul
TypeState-run company
Legal statusCompany
PurposeCinema of Afghanistan
HeadquartersKabul
President
Mawlawi Shafiullah Javid

Afghan Film also known as Afghan Film Organization (AFO) is Afghanistan's state-run film company, established in 1968.[1] Its former president Sahraa Karimi, who attained a PhD in Cinema from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and was its first female president.[2][3] Afghan Film is now headed by Mawlawi Shafiullah Javid "Afghan".[4]

It is also a film archive. Many of its contents were destroyed by the Taliban, although some staff members saved valuable films, risking their own lives.[5][6] A number of rescue and archival efforts were chronicled in the 2015 documentary A Flickering Truth.[7]

An eight-day film festival was launched on August 3, 2019, showcasing 100 films around different cinemas in the country in celebration of the country's 100th anniversary of independence.

In 2019, the documentary The Forbidden Reel,[8] which details the history of Afghan cinema through interviews and archives, was released. Directed by Afghan-Canadian filmmaker Ariel Nasr, the film premiered internationally at IDFA 2019,[9] and won the Rogers Audience Award at Hot Docs 2020.[10]

  1. ^ "Afghan Film Organization Celebrates 52nd Year". TOLOnews. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  2. ^ "Sahraa Karimi". Asia Peace Film Festival. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  3. ^ "Afghan Film Organization". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  4. ^ "Afghan Film resumes operations after six-month stoppage". Ariana News. 13 March 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Erlend Clouston on the men who saved the Afghan film archive from the Taliban". the Guardian. 2008-02-20. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  6. ^ "SAA: Awards Acknowledge Outstanding Achievements". www.archivists.org. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  7. ^ "A Flickering Truth". New Zealand Film Commission. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  8. ^ Canada, National Film Board of, Forbidden Reel, retrieved 2020-06-15
  9. ^ www.oberon.nl, Oberon Amsterdam, The Forbidden Reel | IDFA, retrieved 2020-06-15
  10. ^ "The Forbidden Reel". Hot Docs. Retrieved 2020-06-15.