Join an international movement calling for NATO countries to redirect military funding toward sustained Afghan-run development initiatives. Follow the easy steps below to see what Afghans are doing, what their concerns are, and turn your community’s compassion into action.
How to Organize a Screening:
1. Contact CSFilm at info[at]csfilm[dot]org or 617-834-7206 to let us know you’re interested. Sign up here for updates from CSFilm.
2. Order a copy of the DVD online. DVDs cost $25 for private use and home screenings, and $250 for institutional use and public screening.*
3. Read more about the Compassion Campaign for Afghan Civilians to learn how your screening can turn Compassion into Action.
4. Invite:
• Partner groups – to maximize your message through publicity and attendance
• Your political representatives – find out who they are here and invite them to your screening to help shift funding and policy to support Afghan Civil Society. If you haven’t yet done so, email your Representative to tell them you care about continued development initiatives in Afghanistan.
• Local press – download a template press release
• Notable locals and leaders
5. Download these resources to advertise your event: printable black & white poster, color poster, publicity flyers, and a printable program to copy and handout at the screening. For more information here is a one-page CSFilm overview, and here is a complete CSFilm overview.
6. Invite CSFilm. If feasible we would love to attend your screening, give a presentation and lead a discussion about the filmmaking process and the situation on the ground in Afghanistan.
We’ve heard back from audiences that film screenings have more meaning and impact when Michael Sheridan, CSFilm’s director, has been able present before and after the films to contextualize the trainings and filmmaking process, providing the interesting details behind it all. In cases where Michael’s attendance is requested, we ask that the venue also try to cover travel expenses.
* Regarding price options: CSfilm’s primary mission is to get these films seen and discussed as widely as possible. We appreciate your understanding, however, that CSFilm’s trainings, production and distribution work is underfunded. Therefore, when collaborating with organizations or educational institutions that do have a budget for film screenings and presentations, we ask for a $300 – $500 donation toward the work – though it is always up to the venue to determine what they can afford. One way to raise some or all of these costs is to ask your library to purchase the DVD for $250. Please be in touch with us if this is beyond your means.
7. Consider using your event as a fundraiser for Community Supported Film to enable the continued training of Afghan filmmakers and filmmakers in other post-crisis countries to raise awareness about their perspectives on pressing social and economic development issues. We can provide you written materials and donation cards and envelopes to facilitate your fundraiser.
8. Link to these films on your website, Facebook page, blog, and email.
Recommended ways to use these films:
Community or Neighborhood groups – host a screening and discussion of the films to invigorate conversations about the immediate and long term future of Afghanistan
Writers and Bloggers – please watch the films and if you are moved to do so, please write about the films, your impressions, and the impact of the films – especially at the ten year markers of 9-11 and the 10-7 invasion of Afghanistan
Peace groups and activists working around the issue of the US war in Afghanistan – to show intimate and humanizing stories via their website or at organized screenings or conferences, in order to contextualize their organization’s work and message and invigorate conversations about the immediate and long term future of Afghanistan
Non-profits working on the issues of Afghanistan, cross-cultural understanding, or the effects of war and poverty – to show intimate and humanizing stories to contextualize the organization’s work and message
Afghan, Islamic, Asian, and allied organizations and student groups – to host screenings of the films to humanize and contextualize their work and discussions around cross-cultural and ethnic understanding
Filmmaking organizations – to highlight the work of emerging Afghan documentary filmmakers and international documentary training efforts and to educate about participatory filmmaking
Universities, particularly International Relations, International Development, and Political Science Departments – to invigorate conversations about the immediate and long term future of Afghanistan
School Groups – to educate about the culture of Afghanistan and humanize a nation of people that are rarely portrayed beyond battlefront coverage (with suggested discussion questions)
Women’s groups – to show these rarely seen first-hand accounts from Afghan women filmmakers giving intimate portrayals of women’s lives in Afghanistan
Veterans groups – to screen the films and launch discussions about Afghanistan incorporating a unique Afghan perspective into the conversation
Libraries – to include these international stories as a permanent public resource for our communities
Please email us with any questions and ideas at info[at]csfilm[dot]org or call 617-834-7206.
