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As the 10th anniversaries of 9-11 and the October 7th US-led invasion of Afghanistan are upon us, many Americans are reflecting on the impact of these events on our lives. Community Supported Film is providing an opportunity to also reflect on the situation from an Afghan perspective. CSFilm is doing an online broadcast of these ten Afghan-made documentary shorts, available in full to the public, from September 11th until October 7th 2011. The films can be watched at www.csfilm.org/films.

Community Supported Film conducted a documentary filmmaking training in Kabul, Afghanistan last fall, and the resulting films are an amazing collection of character-driven documentary shorts that offer a personal and first-hand point of view rarely seen or heard in the US, even after 10 years of intense media coverage.

As a series, these films bring to life Afghans’ daily efforts to address their challenging social and economic conditions – providing an insider perspective behind and beyond the battlefront.

We are hoping to have these films seen as widely as possible, and are seeking individuals and organizations that are interested in linking to these films on their sites, writing or blogging about them, or hosting a screening of the films. Would you be willing to check out some of the films and consider writing about them and/or linking to them on your blog? Please write to info@csfilm.org with your ideas!

Story details:

• Death to the Camera, by Qasem Hossaini
Women joke and fight on a cash-for-work site - accusing each other of being prostitutes, liars, and racists. Does the film reveal the depth of pain and trouble facing Afghans, or do these women know how to play to the camera and the aid industry?

• Treasure Trove, by Fakhria Ibrahimi
Eavesdrop on the saucy banter of women as they tend to the everyday back-breaking work of baking bread.

• Beyond Fatigue, by Baqir Tawakoli
Nowhere more so than in Afghanistan are women stretched to the limit of their physical and mental abilities.

• Water Ways, by Majeed Zarand
Most Afghans are more worried about access to water than they are about being attacked by insurgents. In a country that is 85% agrarian, Afghan villagers and the government - in partnership with international aid organizations - are trying to deal with the incongruous mix of droughts and flash floods that terrorize large parts of the country.

• Bearing the Weight, by Mona Haidari
Afghans have no choice but to be resilient: A look at the challenges and successes of one of Afghanistan's 700,000 people left disabled by violence.

• Knocking on Time's Door, by Waheed Zaman
A Mujahideen fighter puts down his gun to teach and to try to lead his village in the building of a new school.

• The Road Above, by Aqeela Rezai
A look at the effects of poppy production in Afghanistan - from an Afghan perspective. Over 1 million Afghans are addicted to heroin.

• Hands of Health, by Zahra Sadat
A pregnant woman navigates the options for healthcare and birth control - without a functioning maternity clinic nearby.

• Searching for a Path, by Reza Sahel
An intimate portrait of a pushcart vendor and the struggle for Afghans to cope with 40% unemployment.

• L is for Light and D is for Darkness, by Hasibullah Asmati
After the Taliban, Waseema takes things into her own hands to start a girls’ school. She organizes village women, pressures resistant men, and sets up 'classrooms' in an abandoned, roofless, building on the outskirts of the village.


As an organization that trains Afghan documentary filmmakers, Community Supported Film (CSFilm) works for an Afghanistan that is not abandoned and left to survive another humanitarian crisis. CSFilm’s online airing of these films on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan seeks to put Afghans into our daily considerations and invigorate conversations about the immediate and long-term future of Afghanistan.

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