Expert Panel Discussion at IDFA
While large crowds packed sold-out screenings of Saving Mes Aynak at this year's largest documentary film festival in the world - IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) - a panel discussion on Mes Aynak around the festival intrigued audience members who wanted more.
While large crowds packed sold-out screenings of Saving Mes Aynak at this year's largest documentary film festival in the world - IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) - a panel discussion on Mes Aynak around the festival intrigued audience members who wanted more.
On the panel were those closest to the issue: director Brent E. Huffman; Experts Stephen Carter, Dr. Stefan Baums, Dr. Paul van der Velde, and Paula de Wijs; and Afghan diaspora representatives Matin Wasei and Nadie Tarzi.
The discussion inspired audiences to take action for Mes Aynak by sharing the urgent issues and recent developments at the site, including the startling news of looting now happening. For those who missed it, you can watch the full discussion here.
Panelists highlights:
“These accusations that artifacts are being stolen from Mes Aynak is heart-breaking, and I’m a little shaken by that.”
- Brent E. Huffman, Director of Saving Mes Aynak
“Nowadays, we get the idea of Afghanistan being a very aggressive kind of country. But in the past, it has been completely different... The culture of Afghanistan, especially in Mes Aynak, cannot be under-estimated.”
- Dr. Paul van der Velde, Professor of Asian Religions
Radboud University of Nijmegen
“The problem here... of looting and destruction Mes Aynak seems to be destined to... is that when we lose objects on sites, we lose data. We lose very important information that tells a story – and who’s story but of the people of Afghanistan, and the people of the World.”
- Nadia Tarzi, Executive Director and Founder of the
Association for the Protection of Afghan Archaeology
“In my memory, and I think in everyone's memory, are still those images of the Bamiyan Buddhas that were blown up... and I felt ashamed of that. I didn't do it, nobody here feels that they are somehow related. But in a sense, we are responsible for it… So then I realized – I had to do something about Mes Aynak”
- Matin Wasei, Afghan Diaspora Representative
Creator of "Save Mes Aynak" Petition
Watch the video of the full discussion.
Official Film Poster released
The official poster for Saving Mes Aynak. Stay tuned for the trailer coming soon!
PBS NewsHour with a sneak peek of Saving Mes Aynak
Ahead of the world premiere at IDFA (International Film Festival Amsterdam) 2014, we gave PBS NewsHour a sneak peek of footage from the finished film and a new interview with Brent Huffman about the Mes Aynak site.
The ARCA Blog
ARCA - Association for Research into Crimes Against Art - promotes Saving Mes Aynak at IDFA. Read it here.
University of Hawaii’s Muslim Societies in Asia and the Pacific
Chinese Copper Mine In Afghanistan Threatens 2,600-Year-Old Buddhist Monastery at Mes Aynak. Read more here.
NEW update about Mes Aynak
Filmmaker and Professor Brent E. Huffman Interviewed about the ancient archaeological site in Afghanistan threatened by a copper mine on the Anarchaeologist podcast.
Saving Mes Aynak to world premiere at IDFA 2014
We are delighted to announce Saving Mes Aynak has been selected to World Premiere at IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam), the world's largest documentary film festival.
We are delighted to announce Saving Mes Aynak has been selected to World Premiere at IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam), the world's largest documentary film festival.
Director/producer Brent Huffman and producer Zak Piper will attend the festival, which takes place November 19-30, 2014.
Saving Mes Aynak follows Afghan archaeologist Qadir Temori as he races against time to save a 5,000-year-old archaeological site in Afghanistan from imminent demolition. A Chinese state-owned mining company is closing in on the ancient site, eager to harvest $100 billion dollars worth of copper buried directly beneath the archaeological ruins. Only 10% of Mes Aynak has been excavated, though, and some believe future discoveries at the site have the potential to redefine the history of Afghanistan and the history of Buddhism itself. Qadir Temori and his fellow Afghan archaeologists face what seems an impossible battle against the Chinese, the Taliban and local politics to save their cultural heritage from likely erasure.
The 60 minute film will compete in the IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary.
You can become part of the journey of this film and help save Mes Aynak. Please sign the official petition and consider donating to the film. We plan to resubmit the petition with all the new signatures to the new president of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani later this year.
Director/producer Brent Huffman, a documentary maker and film professor at Northwestern University, has been independently shooting at the Mes Aynak site in Afghanistan since 2011, and brought the documentary to Kartemquin Films in late 2013 through our KTQ Labs program. The films executive producers are Gordon Quinn, Justine Nagan and Julia Reichert.
Stay tuned to the Saving Mes Aynak website, Facebook and Twitter for more news and upcoming screening details.
Saving Mes Aynak comes to Kartemquin
Undiscovered for 2,000 years, it survived revolution, invasion and war. Now destruction looms again: this is the story of Saving Mes Aynak. Director/producer Brent Huffman has been independently shooting at the Mes Aynak site in Afghanistan since 2011, and has now brought the documentary to Kartemquin Films.
Undiscovered for 2,000 years, it survived revolution, invasion and war. Now destruction looms again: this is the story of Saving Mes Aynak.
Director/producer Brent Huffman, a documentary maker and film professor at Northwestern University, has been independently shooting at the Mes Aynak site in Afghanistan since 2011, and has now brought the documentary to Kartemquin Films.
“As the premiere destination for complex social issue films that intend on making a global impact, Kartemquin is the dream home for Saving Mes Aynak,” said Huffman, who hopes to finish editing and premiere the film by the end of 2014.
In 2007, the Afghanistan government granted copper mining rights at Mes Aynak to the Chinese state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation (M.C.C.). Situated in volatile Logar Province, where the Taliban holds considerable power, Mes Aynak is home to one of the world’s largest untapped copper deposits — worth more than $100 billion. Yet the site also houses the astonishing remains of an ancient Buddhist city, which archaeologists are now racing to save. Excavations began in 2009 and have uncovered golden Buddhist statues, dozens of stupas and fragile Buddhist manuscripts buried within temples. Yet perhaps 90 percent of the site remains underground and unseen. To finish the job could take decades. But it is very likely the total destruction of the site for mining will begin later this year, in a tragedy that echoes the notorious destruction of the Buddhas at Bamiyan in 2001. In addition, there is the real danger than the mining will devastate the environment by polluting the land and water supply in Logar province.
“The international team of archaeologists have been racing against time, but they’re only able to save a small fraction of Mes Aynak’s smaller antiquities,” Huffman says. “Its loss is an international tragedy. Being there is like touching history.”
Saving Mes Aynak was one of just 18 documentaries to receive grant funding from the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation this year (Kartemquin's In The Game and The Schools Project were also funded in the same round). Other funding has come from smaller grants and a successful Kickstarter campaign.
“We are delighted to bring Brent and his film to Kartemquin,” said Justine Nagan, Kartemquin’s Executive Director. “Its memorable characters and unique narrative has enormous potential to raise awareness around this important issue. Brent has already built a massive online community around Saving Mes Aynak; we aim to help him deliver a film that will galvanize action and bring attention to this unusual problem in war-torn Afghanistan.”
Zak Piper (The Interrupters, Life Itself) has joined the project as Producer, and Kartemquin staffer Matt Lauterbach has signed on as Co-Editor and Post-Production Manager. Julia Reichert (The Lion in the House), Gordon Quinn (Kartemquin Founder & Artistic Director) and Justine Nagan also serve as executive producers.
Brent E. Huffman writes about Mes Aynak for CNN
Director Brent Huffman writes about the plight of Mes Aynak for CNN front page story.
Op-Ed and Video for New York Times
Director Brent Huffman wrote an Op-Ed and made a short video for NY Times Op-Docs about the situation at Mes Aynak that was featured as the lead story on the front page.
Wright State University Newsroom
Wright State grad wins MacArthur grant for documentary on ancient Afghan site. Read more here.
MacArthur Foundation Grant
Saving Mes Aynak has been awarded a MacArthur Foundation Grant.
Northwestern University Professor Receives MacArthur Grant
Medill professor awarded MacArthur grant to document soon-to-be destroyed Mes Aynak. Read more here.
The Temple Trail
A tragedy is set to befall an ancient Afghan Buddhist monument. Read more here.
Medill School of Journalism - For Documentarian, It's Personal
From the Medill School of Journalism's National Security Zone:
Filmmaker Brent E. Huffman risks his life to document an ancient Afghan Buddhist city’s imminent destruction. Read the full interview here.
Wright State University Magazine
Filmmaker in the Spotlight: Brent Huffman. Read about Brent and his upcoming film here.