Events/Information | Afghan Academy International

The Orphanage + Introduction by curator Elhum Shakerifar

A young boy in 1980s Afghanistan is sent to a Soviet orphanage and finds himself in a complex social hierarchy with the other boys in Shahrbanoo Sadat’s tender drama. When young Qodrat is caught selling black market cinema tickets on the streets of Kabul, he is sent to a Soviet orphanage where he enters a male social hierarchy, with an as yet unchallenged bully at the top of the pack. As the politics of Afghanistan change immeasurably around them, we see how the last days of the conflict affect the lives of the boys and their home. While there are tensions within the boys’ relationships, Sadat expertly portrays the solidarity and camaraderie of the orphaned kids. Film fanatic Qodrat’s frequent daydreams, where he imagines himself in a series of elaborate Bollywood numbers, are a highlight of a moving and inventive coming-of-age tale.

Tuesday 10th March 2020, 18:30, Barbican Cinema 3

Midnight Traveller – Official UK Trailer

In 2015, after Hassan Fazili’s documentary Peace aired on Afghan national television, the Taliban assassinated the film’s main subject and put a price on Hassan’s head. Hassan looked at his wife and his daughters, and he knew they had to flee their home. Over the course of their multi-year saga in search of safety, the family grasped onto the only means they had to assert control over their situation: their camera-phones. Midnight Traveller is a gripping vérité story made by a family on the run. Their unique access and artistic vision provide an intimate portrait of a loving family and the myriad fellow travellers they meet on their odyssey.

In Cinemas & On Demand - 17th January 2020

A Collaboration with Asia House - Free for Students!

Explore with Professor Hamid Naweed the story of the oldest commercial gemstone; its meaning for our ancestors, and how it made its way to the most prestigious buildings in the world, from mosques in Herat to the Sistine Chapel, the Blue Mosque in Mazar, the Ishtar gate, the walls of Babylon and the temple of Karnak—mankind’s shrines of power. A discussion and audience Q&A will follow the lecture, moderated by award-winning jewellery designer Sima Vaziry.

22nd January 2019