The Small, Imperfect Cinema of Afghanistan - Through the Work of Roya Sadat

The Small, Imperfect Cinema of Afghanistan - Through the Work of Roya Sadat
Author: Soraya Ata
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN:

Abstract The Small, Imperfect Cinema of Afghanistan - Through the Work of Roya Sadat This thesis investigates Afghan cinema, reborn two decades ago with the establishment of new modes of governance and influenced by all the changes this brought. Following Teshome H. Gabriel, the project examines Afghan cinema according to three core means of investigation, as laid out in his critical Third World film theory: text, production and reception. It then supplements Gabriel's schema with an analysis of the importance of education. After the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan's post-conflict reconstruction and transition has been significantly shaped by neo-liberal economic policies that have strongly impacted its fragile film industry, as well as the country at large and its people's lives. This thesis looks closely at the current infrastructures for cinema in Afghanistan via the journeys that filmmaker Roya Sadat has made through them and the circumstances under which her films have been made. It focuses on the management of complex forms of technical production, the mobilization of skilled labor and professional expertise, and the deployment of substantial resources in a situation of extreme economic and social duress. Afghan culture is steeped in poetry and stories upon which its cinema draws. There is a hunger to tell stories. This thesis melds evaluations of extra-textual contexts with explorations of the cinematic language and narrative tropes of recent Afghan films in order to understand how this cinema connects and communicates with an Afghan audience.

Afghanistan in the Cinema

Afghanistan in the Cinema
Author: Mark Graham
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2010-04-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0252035275

In this timely critical introduction to the representation of Afghanistan in film, Mark Graham examines the often surprising combination of propaganda and poetry in films made in Hollywood and the East. Through the lenses of postcolonial theory and historical reassessment, Graham analyzes what these films say about Afghanistan, Islam, and the West and argues that they are integral tools for forming discourse on Afghanistan, a means for understanding and avoiding past mistakes, and symbols of the country's shaky but promising future. Thoughtfully addressing many of the misperceptions about Afghanistan perpetuated in the West, Afghanistan in the Cinema incorporates incisive analysis of the market factors, funding sources, and political agendas that have shaped the films. The book considers a range of films, beginning with the 1970s epics The Man Who Would Become King and The Horsemen and following the shifts in representation of the Muslim world during the Russian War in films such as The Beast and Rambo III. Graham then moves on to Taliban-era films such as Kandahar, Osama, and Ellipsis, the first Afghan film directed by a woman. Lastly, the book discusses imperialist nostalgia in films such as Charlie Wilson's War and destabilizing visions represented in contemporary works such as The Kite Runner.

Global Art Cinema

Global Art Cinema
Author: Rosalind Galt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2010-04-14
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0199726299

"Art cinema" has for over fifty years defined how audiences and critics imagine film outside Hollywood, but surprisingly little scholarly attention has been paid to the concept since the 1970s. And yet in the last thirty years art cinema has flourished worldwide. The emergence of East Asian and Latin American new waves, the reinvigoration of European film, the success of Iranian directors, and the rise of the film festival have transformed the landscape of world cinema. This book brings into focus art cinema's core internationalism, demonstrating its centrality to understanding film as a global phenomenon. The book reassesses the field of art cinema in light of recent scholarship on world film cultures. In addition to analysis of key regions and films, the essays cover topics including theories of the film image; industrial, aesthetic, and political histories; and art film's intersections with debates on genre, sexuality, new media forms, and postcolonial cultures. Global Art Cinema brings together a diverse group of scholars in a timely conversation that reaffirms the category of art cinema as relevant, provocative, and, in fact, fundamental to contemporary film studies.

The Future of the Bamiyan Buddha Statues

The Future of the Bamiyan Buddha Statues
Author: Masanori Nagaoka
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2020-12-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3030513165

This Open Access book explores heritage conservation ethics of post conflict and provides an important historical record of the possible reconstruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues, which was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in Danger in 2003 as “Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley”. With the condition that most surface of the original fragments of the Buddha statues were lost due to acts of deliberate destruction, this publication explores a reference point for conservation practitioners and policy makers around the world as they consider how to respond to on-going acts of destruction of cultural heritage. Whilst there has been an emerging debate to the ethics and nature of heritage reconstruction, this volume provides a plethora of ideas and approaches concerning the future treatment of the Bamiyan Buddha statues. It also addresses a number of fundamental questions on potential heritage reconstruction: how it will be done; who will decide; and what it should be done for. Moreover when it comes to the inscribed World Heritage properties, how can reconstructed heritage using non-original materials be considered to retain authenticity? With a view to serving as a precedent for potential decisions taken elsewhere in the world for cultural properties impacted by acts of violence and destruction, this volume introduces academic researches, experiences and observations of heritage conservation theory and practice of heritage reconstruction. It also addresses the issue not merely from the point of a material conservation philosophy but within the context of holistic strategies for the protection of human rights and promotion of peace building.

Freedom in the World 2008

Freedom in the World 2008
Author: Freedom House (U.S.)
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 907
Release: 2008
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0742563065

A survey of the state of human freedom around the world investigates such crucial indicators as the status of civil and political liberties and provides individual country reports.

Know Thy Enemy

Know Thy Enemy
Author: Barry R. Schneider
Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2003
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Profiles the personalities and strategic cultures of some of the United States' most dangerous international rivals.

Building State and Security in Afghanistan

Building State and Security in Afghanistan
Author: Wolfgang F. Danspeckgruber
Publisher: Liechtenstein Institute
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2007
Genre: Afghanistan
ISBN: 9780977354443

Bridging the pragmatic and the theoretical, leading scholars and policy analysts delve into the critical issues facing Afghanistan today.

Freedom in the World 2013

Freedom in the World 2013
Author: Freedom House
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 894
Release: 2013-10-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 144222567X

Freedom in the World, the Freedom House flagship survey whose findings have been published annually since 1972, is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The survey ratings and narrative reports on 194 countries and 14 territories are used by policymakers, the media, international corporations, civic activists, and human rights defenders to monitor trends in democracy and track improvements and setbacks in freedom worldwide. The Freedom in the World political rights and civil liberties ratings are determined through a multi-layered process of research and evaluation by a team of regional analysts and eminent scholars. The analysts used a broad range of sources of information, including foreign and domestic news reports, academic studies, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, individual professional contacts, and visits to the region, in conducting their research. The methodology of the survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development.

Militant Islam

Militant Islam
Author: Stephen Vertigans
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2008-10-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134126395

Militant Islam provides a sociological framework for understanding the rise and character of recent Islamic militancy. It takes a systematic approach to the phenomenon and includes analysis of cases from around the world, comparisons with militancy in other religions, and their causes and consequences. The sociological concepts and theories examined in the book include those associated with social closure, social movements, nationalism, risk, fear and ‘de-civilising’. These are applied within three main themes; characteristics of militant Islam, multi-layered causes and the consequences of militancy, in particular Western reactions within the ‘war on terror’. Interrelationships between religious and secular behaviour, ‘terrorism’ and ‘counter-terrorism’, popular support and opposition are explored. Through the examination of examples from across Muslim societies and communities, the analysis challenges the popular tendency to concentrate upon ‘al-Qa’ida’ and the Middle East. This book will be of interest to students of Sociology, Political Science and International Relations, in particular those taking courses on Islam, religion, terrorism, political violence and related regional studies.