Original subtitles

(objects clattering)

(machine whirring)

(soft music)

(Mariam): So many aspects of Afghan culture

have been systematically destroyed, or erased, or forgotten.

The Afghan films archive has been preserved,

almost entirely intact,

through all of these years,

where so many other things were burned,

were looted,

or blown up.

(soft music)

The Afghan Films archive,

through the efforts of the people who work there,

who felt so strongly about the work that they did,

they managed to preserve these films

and these records of all of these other Afghanistans that existed

before this recent period of iconoclasm and destruction.

Because they believed these films

had something to give to the present moment.

(film reel clicking)

(cars honking in the distance)

(helicopter whirring)

(soft flute music)

(birds chirping)

(seagulls calling)

(city soundscape)

(horns honking)

- I'm always interested in archives as an artist,

as a filmmaker, and as a teacher.

And I've been making work

in and about Afghanistan

for a number of years.

And for me it was really exciting to find out

that Afghanistan has this incredibly rich and deep

cinematic history, of which I was totally unaware.

And then to realize that...

most other people were also totally unaware of it,

it was like finding a hidden treasure.

And then thinking, "Here's something I can actually do

to start bringing some of those histories back into circulation."

(drumming, crowd chattering)

What is really extraordinary about looking at these films

is that they all tell us something really important

about Afghanistan as a nation,

and how it envisioned itself at the moment that those films were made.

(carnival music, cheering)

(indistinct conversation)

(energetic music)

(singing in foreign language)

(soft string music)

(Middle Eastern music)

(soft guitar music)

(Mariam): When I first went to the Afghan Films archive,

the physical plant of the building was really deteriorating

so they had actual leaks in the archive.

And we were really out of luck

in trying to figure out what was available to see.

(soft music)

(man speaking foreign language)

(birds chirping)

(indistinct chattering)

(Middle Eastern music)

(horse galloping)

(horse whinnying)

(Mariam): Engineer Latif is the most prolific Afghan director.

Probably the most beloved one, as well,

among his peers, and I think also among the younger generation

of Afghan filmmakers. (horse whinnying)

Because he's made films that are touchstones,

like Epic of Love.

And because he made at least one film a year

for so many years.

(whirring)

(eerie music)

(soft music, deep male vocals)

(upbeat music)

(indistinct chattering)

It's so good to see you. - Nice to see you.

(Mariam):... the original building from '68.

My father's the president of Afghanistan.

So there are security concerns.

But it does, I think, open some doors.

Not at the archive, necessarily,

because I've been working with them for so long,

it predates my father having this job.

But it does give the possibility to help them with certain things.

I think it's important

for these films to be more widely available in Afghanistan

and I want to help Afghan Films

to digitize the entire archive.

And of course, the first stage of doing anything like digitization

is to try to understand what you actually have.

(upbeat string music)

(Mariam): The view of Afghanistan outside Afghanistan

is so monolithic.

And I think,

the earlier Afghanistans that existed...

Afghan intellectualism, Afghan modernism,

Afghan leftism...

All of these other histories

are actually present in this archive.

And to see them acted out on film,

it really changes the way that people think about Afghanistan.

(soft flute music)

We've been seeing it, especially in the past few years,

these incidents of really extreme violence.

And it's important to be reminded

that there were decades when Afghanistan

was not a place where violence was normal.

(children singing)

(birds singing)

(background chatter)

(camera clicking)

(camera clicking)

(singing in foreign language)

(Middle Eastern music)

(drums beating, trumpeting)

(soft flute music)

(pop rock music)

(music gradually fades out)

(woman singing in foreign language)

(children playing)

(plane taking flight)

(dramatic music)

(explosions)

(crowd shouting)

(helicopter whirring)

(car honking)

(soft clarinet music)

(crowd shouting)

(children singing an anthem)

- This is... negative. No, positive.

(woman): Yes, it's positive.

(blues music)

You see very different kinds of films being made

at different times.

This is a history and a series of historical shifts that you can trace.

And it's one of the reasons that the archive is so valuable

and it provides such an important, kind of,

way to look at Afghan history that is impossible to find anywhere else.

And what's valuable about it

is not only what you see on the film,

but how the films were made.

You know, all the clues that are embedded, and how the films were made,

and how they were made differently in the different times.

(woman singing in foreign language)

(woman humming softly)

(soft chiming music)

(man singing)

(Mariam): Afghan films is a state film institute.

So, the scripts all had to pass through approval

by a censorship board.

But, I think, very much unlike

what you see in China during the same kind of period

where things were attributed to a workshop,

you can't really fit the communist feature films from Afghanistan

into a series of authorless films,

because they are very much the product of singular artistic visions.

(soft music, cars honking)

(Mariam): There are particular films that I saw

and I just fell in love with those films.

For example, Akhtar the Joker

by Engineer Latif is an extraordinary film

and I've never seen anything else like it.

Beginning with this direct address to the camera,

by Faqir Nabi playing Akhtar.

And he's this completely unreliable narrator of his own life.

And you can see why

they would ask for this project to be made

based on Zariyab's novel

because it is a real excoriation of the decadence

of a certain western-influenced bourgeoisie

during the mid '70s

(Akhtar speaking)

(laughing)

And the character of Akhtar

is this young man from the working-class

who has, sort of, adopted, almost as a mascot,

by a family from this upper-class.

And it's a really tragic story.

(screaming)

(laughing)

(snipping)

(percussive march music)

(jets roaring)

(laughing wickedly)

(fighter jets roaring)

(explosions)

(people shouting, chanting in the distance)

(eerie music)

(cell door rattling)

(people shouting on television)

(man on TV): The choruses sung by the youth,

and social organizations, are valuable memories

of the universal unity of the people of Afghanistan,

for the support of the liberating south revolution,

and is indicative of unshakeable unity

(cheering, shouting)

(all): Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!

(soft a capella, male vocals)

(singing continues)

(indistinct chattering)

(waves lapping, birds chirping)

(soft, deep music)

(explosion)

(shouting, gunshots in distance)

(cars honking)

(soft music, crickets chirping)

(wind blowing)

(eerie chiming music)

(soft flute music, drumming)

(indistinct chattering)

(Mariam): When you go to Afghan Films

and you look at the archives,

all along, you see this long history of really improvised filmmaking

because at no point do Afghan filmmakers

really have access to a lot of technical equipment.

But I think during the communist period it gets much worse,

because the country is at war,

and only inside the cities, does the regime actually have control.

(Mariam): So only in Kabul can they actually control

the locations that they're shooting in.

And for certain films...

they do need to leave Kabul in order to get the shot

(Middle Eastern music)

(soft romantic music)

(Mariam): If you talk to people who were actually party members

a lot of them also will express to you the feeling

that that period was like being on a runaway train,

where no one knew at the beginning where things would end up.

And there was a moment,

there was a moment at the beginning of the period

when there was a genuine investment from a lot of people

in this leftist dream.

But it deteriorated very quickly.

But by that point, it was also dangerous

to detach yourself from it

if you were operating in an official capacity,

which the people at Afghan Films were.

of the counter-revolutionary elements,

located beyond our frontiers inside Pakistan.

The first nucleus of the counter-revolutionaries

emerged from here.

The assistance of Washington provided new tasks

for CIA agents in the frontier of Pakistan.

The unveiling of the sinister intentions

of the enemies of the revolution.

encouraged our people to voluntarily take up arms

and to wipe out these inhuman and sad acts

with the help of unity and oneness.

The roads and highways are open.

The life-enduring blood of the revolution

is slowing in the veins of the free people of this land.

(jazzy music)

(soft music, male vocals)

(gunshots, distant shouting)

(tank revving)

(distant gunfire)

(machinegun firing, shouting)

(birds chirping)

(soft clarinet music)

(suspenseful music)

(sirens wailing)

(cars honking)

(helicopter whirring)

- Like this, is it 'cause, like, there's something wrong with the film?

- Yes.

- Can you fix that stuff?

- It depends. It depends what the problem was.

- Yeah.

(Mariam): I've always believed

that you can't preserve an archive

by locking it up.

Especially not by locking it up in a place

where it's far too easy for it to be physically destroyed.

And I think the Afghan Films archive

is always going to be under some threat,

as long as Afghanistan remains somewhat unstable.

And I believe that the only way that it can truly be preserved

is for it to proliferate.

For people to know about it.

For many, many copies to circulate.

(energetic music)

(Russian anthem playing)

(helicopter whirring)

(soft flute music)

(Middle Eastern flute music)

(indistinct conversation)

(shouting, distant gunfire)

(gunfire)

(man singing in foreign language)

(singing continues)

(projector rattling)

(horse galloping)

(Middle Eastern music)

(soft music)

(soft string music)

(suspenseful music)

(film reel rattling)

(indistinct chattering)

(soft saxophone music)

(chattering)

(slow eerie music)

(distant gunfire)

(gunfire continues)

(gunfire)

(ballroom music)

(soft music)

(phone ringing)

(whimpering)

(loud explosions)

(footsteps racing)

(gunfire)

(glass shattering)

(men shouting in foreign language)

(distant gunshots)

(gunfire sound fading)

(low rumbling)

(slow celestial music)

(music continues)

(celestial music)

(wind blowing gently)

(cart rattling)

(echoing Middle Eastern music)

(soft flute music)

(soft flute music)

(Mariam): There was no government really commissioning them

to make films anymore,

but they continued to film all the way up until '96.

And at a certain point, I think their project became very personal.

And that's what the house of history sort of represents,

I think it's one of the most personal films in the Afghan Films archive.

It's really an essay film about the destruction of Kabul.

And it sort of shifts about halfway through

into a lament for the destruction

of the Kabul Museum, the Archeological Museum,

and how it represents the destruction

of all of these other histories of Afghanistan,

all of the non-Islamic histories.

(quiet music, wind blowing gently)

(low rumbling)

(wind blowing)

(distant shouting)

(tape rewinding)

(man in film chuckling)

(overlapping chattering on television)

(overlapping chattering on television)

(upbeat Middle Eastern music)

(music fading)

(eerie music)

(suspenseful music)

(soft piano music)

(loud explosions)

(television playing in background)

(fire crackling)

(gate squeaking)

(overlapping chattering)

(greetings in foreign language)

(birds chirping)

(men conversing in foreign language)

(soft flute music)

(Middle Eastern music)

(horse galloping)

(birds singing)

(children's voices echoing)

(energetic music)

(car honking, bicycle bell ringing)

(Mariam): Well I think Afghanistan is at a stage now

where pieces of its history are starting to resurface

into the sayable

from the unspeakable.

When you're coming out of a period of intense conflict

there are parts of the past that are untouchable.

And then gradually, gradually, gradually,

they become things that you can look at

and speak about again.

So I think, you know, we're emerging

into a period in Afghanistan where it's not becoming possible again

to talk about the communist period with some kind of...

... some kind of honesty

and completeness

that was not possible even five years ago.

And certainly not ten years ago.

But, for example, we still can't talk about the Mujahideen...

... period that way.

We certainly can't talk about the Taliban years that way yet.

They're too close still.

But I think...

archives are incredibly important for that reason

because in an archive, you sort of conceal off

these histories.

And keep them until the moment when it's safe to look at them again.

(wind blowing)

(woman singing in foreign language)

(singing continues)