Afghanistan Project

Amplifying the voice and expertise of Afghans, Community Supported Film trains and employs Afghans in documentary filmmaking and video-journalists.

The Fruit of Our Labor

Building Local Capacity: Giving Voice to Afghans through Filmmaking

In November 2010 CSFilm completed an intensive 5-week training of 10 Afghans in documentary production. After three weeks of rigorous exercises, each student was required to develop and produce a character driven short documentary. The 10 remarkable films that they produced are grouped under the title The Fruit of our Labor. These stories bring to life Afghan’s efforts to address their challenging social and economic conditions and provide a fresh perspective on the needs and issues of Afghans beyond the relentless battlefront coverage of western media.

Mentoring, filmmaking and further training

The trainees, and four more experienced Afghan filmmakers, have now organized as a cooperative to develop proposals of their own for commissioned and independent films with mentoring and assistance from CSFilm. Our intention is to provide additional training in topics such as editing, business development and proposal writing.

Community Supported Film’s Afghan team soon will be making the film Brewing Tea in a Kettle of War (BTKW). BTKW will from the Afghan villager’s perspective look at the impact of outsiders coming into their communities trying to help them. Specifically, international audiences will experience what it is like when foreign soldiers, contractors and the Afghan government arrive with aid. Through these stories the benefits of bottom up versus the costs of top down development approaches and the impact of local versus foreign ownership will be revealed. These parallel stories will allow the international community a unique insight into the sustainability of these different approaches as both external and internal forces struggle for peace in war-weary and self-determined Afghanistan.

Public Engagement

The films The Fruit of our Labor and BTKW will be used in public engagement campaigns in Afghanistan and internationally for audiences hungry for effective peace-building strategies. CSFilm’s work will also include organizing public screenings, forums, publications of educational toolkits and an interactive web site to raise awareness about the role of economic development in conflict resolution.

Further Information on the Project