16 Days in Afghanistan
Encyclopedia
16 Days in Afghanistan is a groundbreaking documentary about the journey of Afghan-American Anwar Hajher
(director) traveling to his homeland Afghanistan
after 25 years to rediscover his country. The film is produced by Mithaq Kazimi
and is the first documentary since the fall of Taliban to be shot in those provinces which remain under the heavy influence of the Taliban. It is also the first professionally produced documentary about Afghanistan by a team of Afghan filmmakers and has become a reference film used by many, including Penguin Books
's study guides about Afghan-related books. It is perhaps one of the earliest and most prominent documentaries to date that has been made in and about Afghanistan and shows in many top lists, including IMDB's Most Popular Titles by country and on Amazon's bestselling movies and TV on Afghanistan right after the Oscar Nominee, Restrepo
.. It was selected as part of the first Afghan art exhibit show in the British Museum opened by president Hamid Karzai
.
for Khaled Hosseini
's novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns
. The China International Television Corporation have used the documentary to explore and better understand the culture of Afghanistan to conduct their videoconferencing on Afghanistan.
Afghan critics and scholars have hailed the film for being neutral to the political and tribal issues while other documentaries often take sides. Wasef Bakhtari
, renowned poet and historian has commented on the ability of the director to speak both Pashtu and Dari natively, while also communicating perfectly in English. Other publications covering the film and the filmmakers include a through interview in Peyk
magazine.
Many publications have reviewed and discussed the film thoroughly, mostly in Afghanistan, but also some in the west. Cine Source mentions 16 Days in Afghanistan as one of the two distinguished documentaries made in Afghanistan after the Taliban Era.. Another states that the film has something for everyone. One publication discusses the film in comparison to more recent films such as the Raindance
selection, Where My Heart Beats
In 2009, 16 Days in Afghanistan opened a two-day film festival on Afghanistan in India sponsored by the Embassy of Afghanistan, India Habitat
Center and Nelson Mandela
Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution. Other films in the series were The Beauty Academy of Kabul, The Afghan Chronicles, Beyond Belief and the recent Sundance
selection, Afghan Star.
In 2011, the film was shown in the British Museum
in the United Kingdom
in partnership with the National Museum of Afghanistan and the National Geographic.
of Mazar-e Sharif
and discusses the situation with the caretakers, guards, and the ulema
s who are there. An inside look into the historical artifacts of the mosque. An interview with a westerner who visited Afghanistan in the 1970s and discusses Islam and the Taliban.
seller and an electronic seller about their business. Interview with a street woman and her view about the government and president Hamid Karzai
. Interview with a blind street singer. He has his fortune read by a woman fortune teller.
-maker about his business and what he thinks of life.
.
.
.
.
, Georgia
airport. A montage of his recollections of the people he met and the places he visited.
, an Afghan-American anthropologist and current Afghan cultural advisor and professor in Georgia. Mithaq Kazimi, has produced the film. The score is composed by Ahmad Shah Hassan and Larry Porter
with additional music by Hariprasad Chaurasia
. Cast include Peace Corps
volunteers, spokesperson for the Afghan National Army
, former representative of Iranian cinema in Afghanistan and former western photographers and professional working in Afghanistan.
The film also includes interviewees with the Afghan people from bread sellers to fortune tellers to heroin users to doctors to Mullas to UN officials and ordinary school children.
Anwar Hajher
Anwar Hajher is an Afghan American professor and filmmaker. After leaving Afghanistan during the Russian invasion, he traveled around the world and settled in the United States. In 2008 he directed 16 Days in Afghanistan a documentary about life after the Taliban.-External links:* *...
(director) traveling to his homeland Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
after 25 years to rediscover his country. The film is produced by Mithaq Kazimi
Mithaq Kazimi
Mithaq Kazimi is a film director and producer, mostly known for his documentary film 16 Days in Afghanistan and founding member of Dawn Breakers International Film Festival...
and is the first documentary since the fall of Taliban to be shot in those provinces which remain under the heavy influence of the Taliban. It is also the first professionally produced documentary about Afghanistan by a team of Afghan filmmakers and has become a reference film used by many, including Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
's study guides about Afghan-related books. It is perhaps one of the earliest and most prominent documentaries to date that has been made in and about Afghanistan and shows in many top lists, including IMDB's Most Popular Titles by country and on Amazon's bestselling movies and TV on Afghanistan right after the Oscar Nominee, Restrepo
Restrepo
-People:*José Manuel Restrepo, a Colombian political figure, botanist and historian*Carlos Eugenio Restrepo, a Colombian politician and lawyer*Laura Restrepo, a Colombian writer*Ximena Restrepo, Colombian athlete...
.. It was selected as part of the first Afghan art exhibit show in the British Museum opened by president Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...
.
Cultural Heritage
In 2011, the film was selected by the National Museum of Afghanistan in partnership with the National Geographic as an object of cultural heritage and will be showcased alongside other cultural artifacts in exhibitions around the world. The first of such exhibition was the Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World in The British Museum March-May, 2011.Impact
16 Days in Afghanistan has also been shown in many television stations, film festivals and non-profit events around the world. It is in circulation in many public school and university libraries. It has become one of the major and key documentaries about Afghanistan and is used by many people and organizations as a resource. Some include the official study guide from Penguin GroupPenguin Group
The Penguin Group is a trade book publisher, the largest in the world , having overtaken Random House in 2009. The Penguin Group is the name of the incorporated division of parent Pearson PLC that oversees these publishing operations...
for Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini , is an Afghan-born American novelist and physician of ethnic Tajik origin. He is a citizen of the United States where he has lived since he was fifteen years old. His 2003 debut novel, The Kite Runner, was an international bestseller, selling more than 12 million copies worldwide....
's novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It is his second, following his bestselling 2003 debut, The Kite Runner. The book focuses on the tumultuous lives of two Afghan women and how their lives cross each other, spanning from the 1960s to 2003...
. The China International Television Corporation have used the documentary to explore and better understand the culture of Afghanistan to conduct their videoconferencing on Afghanistan.
Afghan critics and scholars have hailed the film for being neutral to the political and tribal issues while other documentaries often take sides. Wasef Bakhtari
Wasef Bakhtari
Wasef Bakhtari is a renowned Persian poet, literary figure and intellectual.-Life and education:Even though his father was from Kabul, he spent most of his childhood in Mazari Sharif. He attended Bakhtar School for his primary and for most of his secondary education. After his family moved to...
, renowned poet and historian has commented on the ability of the director to speak both Pashtu and Dari natively, while also communicating perfectly in English. Other publications covering the film and the filmmakers include a through interview in Peyk
Peyk
Peyk is a village and municipality in the Salyan Rayon of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 1,060....
magazine.
Many publications have reviewed and discussed the film thoroughly, mostly in Afghanistan, but also some in the west. Cine Source mentions 16 Days in Afghanistan as one of the two distinguished documentaries made in Afghanistan after the Taliban Era.. Another states that the film has something for everyone. One publication discusses the film in comparison to more recent films such as the Raindance
Raindance Film Festival
Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates from various cities including: London, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin and Brussels...
selection, Where My Heart Beats
In 2009, 16 Days in Afghanistan opened a two-day film festival on Afghanistan in India sponsored by the Embassy of Afghanistan, India Habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
Center and Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution. Other films in the series were The Beauty Academy of Kabul, The Afghan Chronicles, Beyond Belief and the recent Sundance
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
selection, Afghan Star.
In 2011, the film was shown in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in partnership with the National Museum of Afghanistan and the National Geographic.
Plot
The film is divided into 16 days in which the director discusses a different issue with the Afghan people.Day 1
He arrives in Kabul Airport and meets the family. A short introduction of the history of Afghanistan.Day 2
He visits the Blue MosqueBlue Mosque
Blue Mosque may refer to:* Blue Mosque, Tabriz, Iran, 1465* Rawze-e-Sharif, Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan, 1512* Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey, 1616* Blue Mosque, Yerevan, Armenia, 1766* Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Mosque, Shah Alam, Malaysia, 1982...
of Mazar-e Sharif
Mazar-e Sharif
Mazār-i-Sharīf or Mazār-e Sharīf is the fourth largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 375,000 as of 2006. It is the capital of Balkh province and is linked by roads to Kunduz in the east, Kabul in the south-east, Herat to the west and Uzbekistan to the north...
and discusses the situation with the caretakers, guards, and the ulema
Ulema
Ulama , also spelt ulema, refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
s who are there. An inside look into the historical artifacts of the mosque. An interview with a westerner who visited Afghanistan in the 1970s and discusses Islam and the Taliban.
Day 3
Interview with the colonel of the Afghan National Army about the status of women in Afghanistan. Interview with a businesswoman who sells mantu on the street. Interview with street children testing their education and questioning them about school. Interview with a traffic police on how the economy has effected the number of cars and drivers.Day 4
Interviews with a kebabKebab
Kebab is a wide variety of meat dishes originating in Middle East and later on adopted by the Middle East, and Asia Minor, and now found worldwide. In English, kebab with no qualification generally refers more specifically to shish kebab served on the skewer...
seller and an electronic seller about their business. Interview with a street woman and her view about the government and president Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...
. Interview with a blind street singer. He has his fortune read by a woman fortune teller.
Day 5
Interview with a doctor and pharmacist about medicine and foreign medical aid in Afghanistan. Interview with a sickleSickle
A sickle is a hand-held agricultural tool with a variously curved blade typically used for harvesting grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock . Sickles have also been used as weapons, either in their original form or in various derivations.The diversity of sickles that...
-maker about his business and what he thinks of life.
Day 6
Interview with a former representative of Iranian Cinema about her perception of the people. Interview with a street photographer, comparing standard film to digital photography. Interview with a butcher and his customer about business and health.Day 7
On the way to Kabul, he eats and introduces Afghan cuisine. Interview with a UN representative and employee about UN activities in Afghanistan. The representative discusses land mines and how they affect people's lives. Hajher recalls his last days in Afghanistan during the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
Day 8
Interviews with many day laborers and how the current political and economic system affects their lives.Day 9
Interview with the founder of Afghan Human Rights Committee about the involvement of United States and western powers in Afghanistan and terrorismTerrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
.
Day 10
Hajher visits an illegal local bar to interview heroin sellers, users and addicts. People discuss why they smoke, how it affects their lives and why they don't drink alcoholAlcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
.
Day 11
Visiting the businesses in the popular Chicken Street and how it has changed or remain the same over the years. Interview with the sellers and western visitors who speak about the culture of Afghanistan.Day 12
Hajher visits his village to meet his extended family. Greetings and interviews with the family about religion, politics and the way of life in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Day 13
Hajher faces death for a moment when he thinks that his village barber is going to cut his neck. The head of the village, the religious figure and other known figures come to meet and question him.Day 14
He visits his dad's enemy to make peace and visit his old house which was taken over by the enemies of his father.Day 16
Landing in the United States AugustaAugusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
airport. A montage of his recollections of the people he met and the places he visited.
Cast and crew
The film is directed by Anwar HajherAnwar Hajher
Anwar Hajher is an Afghan American professor and filmmaker. After leaving Afghanistan during the Russian invasion, he traveled around the world and settled in the United States. In 2008 he directed 16 Days in Afghanistan a documentary about life after the Taliban.-External links:* *...
, an Afghan-American anthropologist and current Afghan cultural advisor and professor in Georgia. Mithaq Kazimi, has produced the film. The score is composed by Ahmad Shah Hassan and Larry Porter
Larry Porter
Larry Porter is the former head coach of the Memphis Tigers football team. Porter was named the new head football coach at the University of Memphis on November 29, 2009...
with additional music by Hariprasad Chaurasia
Hariprasad Chaurasia
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is an Indian classical instrumentalist. He is a player of the bansuri, the North Indian bamboo flute. Chaurasia is a classicist who has made a conscious effort to reach out and expand the audience for classical music.-Early life:Hariprasad Chaurasia was born in...
. Cast include Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
volunteers, spokesperson for the Afghan National Army
Afghan National Army
The Afghan National Army is a service branch of the military of Afghanistan, which is currently trained by the coalition forces to ultimately take the role in land-based military operations in Afghanistan. , the Afghan National Army is divided into seven regional Corps. The strength of the Afghan...
, former representative of Iranian cinema in Afghanistan and former western photographers and professional working in Afghanistan.
The film also includes interviewees with the Afghan people from bread sellers to fortune tellers to heroin users to doctors to Mullas to UN officials and ordinary school children.