University of Chicago Oriental Institute Screening & Panel - June 23rd!

We are excited to be partnering with the world-renowned Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago for screening and panel on Tuesday, June 23rd, at 7:00pm! Admission for this special event is FREE. There will be a reception following the panel discussion. Please join us; we look forward to seeing you there! For more information, please click here. 

PANELISTS: 

- Brent Huffman, Director of Saving Mes Aynak

- Gil J. Stein, Director of the Oriental Institute 

- Lawrence Rothfield, Faculty Director of the Past for Sale Project of the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society 

- Fahim Rahimi, Nation Museum of Afghanistan and Fulbright Fellow - University of Pennsylvania 

- Moderator: McGuire Gibson, Professor of Mesopotamian Archaeology, Oriental Institute

To help bring Saving Mes Aynak and it's important message to audiences around the globe, please support the filmmaker's ongoing Indiegogo campaign (ends JUNE 26th). Your support will allow them to raise global awareness of Mes Aynak's impending destruction, and help save and protect this world treasure from any harm: http://igg.me/at/SaveMesAynak

Chinese Threat to Priceless Buddhas - Mes Aynak in the Sunday Times!

The news of Mes Aynak and the global movement to save it is reaching audiences far and wide. Today, Mes Aynak was featured in the UK's The Sunday Times:

"DISCOVERIES at an ancient archaeological site in Afghanistan are posing a dilemma for the impoverished country as it seeks to exploit one of the world’s most lucrative copper deposits beneath the treasures..." CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

YOU can join the global #SaveMesAynak movement today by supporting our ongoing Indieogogo campaign that ends SOON on June 26th! Please consider donating and sharing our important movement with your social networks: http://igg.me/at/SaveMesAynak

Brent Huffman's REDDIT AMA!

Director Brent Huffman paid a visit to the popular website Reddit for an A(sk) M(e) A(nything) interactive discussion on Friday, June 12th! It was an amazing discussion, with Brent answering questions from the public about Mes Aynak, Saving Mes Aynak, and yes, even what his favorite soup is. Apparently he loves lobster bisque.

You can read the full discussion here by clicking here

Don't forget that our Indiegogo campaign to #SaveMesAynak from destruction ends very soon on June 26th. Please consider supporting our campaign, and sharing it with your loved ones, friends, and social media networks. THE LINK: igg.me/at/SaveMesAynak

The Saving Mes Aynak Official Trailer!

We are proud to bring you the official trailer for Saving Mes Aynak! Thank you all for your incredible support; without you, this trailer would not be possible. Please join us in watching the film on July 1 - #SaveMesAynak Day - by supporting our effort through Indiegogo (donate by June 26th, 2015). Help us bring Saving Mes Aynak around the world, and mount an ambition campaign to halt Mes Aynak's Destruction and preserve it for future generations: http://igg.me/at/SaveMesAynak

SYNPOSIS:

The award-winning Saving Mes Aynak follows archaeologist Qadir Temori as he races against time to save a 5,000-year-old Buddhist archeological site in Afghanistan from imminent demolition by a Chinese State-owned mining company, who plan to destroy Mes Aynak to mine for $100 billion worth of copper.

Saving Mes Aynak, from Kartemquin Films, the producers of Life Itself and The Interrupters, examines the conflict between cultural preservation and economic opportunity, through the lens of the Afghan archaeologists and local villagers who live and work near Mes Aynak. Called, "a doc of crucial immediacy... advocacy filmmaking at its best and most chilling," by Indiewire, Saving Mes Aynak is both a powerful and moving film, and an inspiring call to action.

"UNITE #SaveMesAynak" Twitter and Facebook Banners!

Help raise awareness and share the story of Mes Aynak through our UNITE Twitter and Facebook banners! Simply right-click on the images to save, then upload to your profile.

Twitter banner!

Facebook banner!

Our Indiegogo #SaveMesAynak campaign to raise the funds we will need to share Saving Mes Aynak with the world and save this amazing site from destruction ends on June 26th at 11:59pm! Please donate to support the #SaveMesAynak movement: http://igg.me/at/SaveMesAynak

Saving Mes Aynak Chicago Premiere at Music Box Theatre!

We are thrilled to announce the Chicago premiere of Kartemquin Film’s newest award-winning documentary:

Saving Mes Aynak

June 2nd, 7:30 pm

Music Box Theatre

3733 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613

Saving Mes Aynak follows Afghan archaeologist Qadir Temori as he races against time to save the 5,000 year old Mes Aynak site - located within Afghanistan’s Taliban-controlled Logar Province - from imminent demolition by a Chinese state-owned mining company. With only 10% of Mes Aynak excavated, experts are comparing it to Pompeii, with archeological finds that have the potential to rewrite the history of Afghanistan and Buddhism itself. Yet it could be destroyed at any time.

VIP premiere tickets - $100 (Limited run! Details below)

General tickets - $10

Facebook event

Panelists: Director Brent E. Huffman; Producer Zak Piper; archeologist Dr. Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago; Lawrence Rothfield, University of Chicago Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Faculty Director, The Past for Sale Project, University of Chicago; and Dr. Morag Kersel, archaeologist and Assistant Professor in Anthropology at DePaul University.

Introduction by Elspeth Revere (MacArthur Foundation). Moderated by Anthony Kaufman.

Tickets are $10 through the Music Box website! Click here to purchase. We are offering a special group ticket price of only $8 per ticket for groups of 4 or more! If you would like to organize group ticketing, please email Eileen O’Donnell at savingmesaynak@kartemquin.com.

Also available are Limited VIP Chicago Premiere Passes that include two tickets, an exclusive reception with the filmmakers and panelists following the screening, a DVD, a tour of Kartemquin, and other special perks! All proceeds from the purchase of a VIP pass will go to our ongoing Saving Mes Aynak Indiegogo campaign, which is currently raising funds to save Mes Aynak from destruction and preserve this historic treasure for all future generations. 20% of every VIP Pass will also go directly to the Afghan archaeologists currently risking their lives to excavate and protect Mes Aynak. For more information on our global #SaveMesAynak Indiegogo campaign go to igg.me/at/SaveMesAynak.

Saving Mes Aynak is an affecting documentary that is at once both a powerfully-crafted film and an urgent call to social action. We hope you are able to join us for this special Chicago premiere, and add your voice to save this important cultural site.

“a doc of crucial immediacy… advocacy filmmaking at its best and most chilling… Saving Mes Aynak is simply required viewing.” - Indiewire

"Mes Aynak is the most important archaeological discovery in a generation, revealing an entire city dating 5,000 years." - Chicago Tribune.

We look forward to meeting you at the Music Box Theatre on June 2nd at 7:30pm!

Indiegogo Campaign

Brent Huffman and Saving Mes Aynak in the Huffington Post!

Director Brent Huffman wrote a powerful  editorial piece for the Huffington Post on our global fight to save Mes Aynak from destruction: 

"25 miles southeast of Kabul, Afghanistan near the border with modern-day Pakistan rests an ancient Buddhist city. This ancient city - named Mes Aynak, or "little copper well" - was once at the heart of the bustling Silk Road, the revolutionary trade route that tied together China, India, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Buddhists from all over Asia made pilgrimages to worship at Mes Aynak, and for thousands of years, it flourished as one of the most important cities in the region. As its importance waned through the centuries, it was slowly abandoned and eventually, this once mighty city was forgotten, its history lost to the sands of time...." CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

You can help support Saving Mes Aynak and the global campaign to save this amazing heritage site through our ongoing Indiegogo campaign that ends on June 26th. Please consider donating, and sharing it with your friends, family, and social networks! LINK: http://igg.me/at/SaveMesAynak 

Saving Mes Aynak takes to Indiegogo to unite global supporters!

The Saving Mes Aynak team is launching a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, the world's largest crowdfunding platform, aimed to raise international pressure on the Chinese state-owned mining company, the Afghanistan government, and UNESCO, in a bid to save Mes Aynak - the 5,000 year-old Buddhist archaeological site - from imminent destruction.

The campaign, which launches this Monday, has a goal of raising $50,000 on the Indiegogo platform. Director Brent E. Huffman and documentary collective Kartemquin Films plan to distribute the film via VHX on July 1 for "Global #SaveMesAynak Day", with 10% of the raised funds going directly to funding archaeologists in preserving the site.

“The time to act is now. The world was outraged after the Taliban blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001, and at the recent destruction by ISIS of the Mosul Museum in Iraq. My fear is that we’ll all gasp in horror when the site at Mes Aynak is permanently destroyed — but won’t do much when there was actually time to save it."

- Brent E. Huffman
Director, Saving Mes Aynak
 

Donations will go towards the film’s outreach and awareness efforts to put pressure on the Afghan government to overturn their decision, and a portion of every contribution will go directly towards the site and its courageous archeologists, who risk their lives everyday by entering the Taliban-controlled region.

In addition to the unprecedented #SaveMesAynak Day, which will allow audiences around the world to live stream the film together, Indiegogo supporters will be able to pre-order Saving Mes Aynak on DVD, Blu-Ray and for download, arrange community screenings, and contribute towards saving the site through the campaign’s many perks.
 

You can support the campaign today! Please visit: igg.me/at/SaveMesAynak. #SaveMesAynak.

This is our chance to MAKE HISTORY BY SAVING IT!

Full Frame Success for Saving Mes Aynak

Saving Mes Aynak is celebrating a great weekend at the Full Frame Documentary Festival, where it screened to a standing ovation and was followed by an impassioned Q&A from the sold out crowd.

Director Brent E. Huffman attended Full Frame with producer Zak Piper and executive producer Julia Reichert.

Brent began the weekend by speaking with Joe Corey of Inside Pulse, who covered the film and declared it, “the most important documentary showing at Full Frame this year.”

In his festival recap for PBS.org, an impassioned Tom Roston wrote: "I couldn’t help thinking of Indiana Jones as the film depicts archaeologists scraping away in the dust and sand. The film is also well paced, and the images are gripping... what’s it going to take for people to care about Mes Aynak? The actual visual of it being obliterated? Before it happens, we can’t muster up the indignation? Stupid."

Saving Mes Aynak at the Festival of Tolerance, Croatia!

Saving Mes Aynak joined the Festival of Tolerance in Croatia on April 14, at cinema Tuskanac in Zagreb.  The screening was followed by a discussion on the topic of "Identity, Culture and Heritage: the last obstacle to the capital," a great opportunity to discuss the stakes of heritage with panelists of Tajana Pleše, archeologist from Croatian Conservation Institute, Goranka Horjan, art historian and president of European Museum Forum; Jasen Mesić, archeologist, former minister of culture and member of Croatian parliament; Zrinka Paladino, architect from City of Zagreb Institute for the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage; and Paola Orlić, art historian. We are grateful for this chance to share the film with Croatian audience and experts in the area!

Full Frame to screen Saving Mes Aynak on April 11!

Saving Mes Aynak will screen at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival on Saturday, April 11 at 12:50 pm! The festival, held in Durham, North Carolina from April 9 - 12, has announced its full 2015 Program Schedule.

Director/producer Brent Huffman and producer Zak Piper are very excited to take part at this prestigious festival, which comes just weeks after the Saving Mes Aynak U.S. Premiere on Saturday, March 28 at AmDocs (The American Documentary Film Festival).

Stay tuned for when tickets go on sale April 2!

Saving Mes Aynak Selected for Full Frame!

We are delighted to announce that Saving Mes Aynak will screen at the prestigious Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina this April!

Director/producer Brent Huffman and producer Zak Piper will attend the festival, which takes place on April 9 - 12, 2015. This exciting occasion will come just weeks after the film’s U.S. Premiere on Saturday, March 28 at AmDocs (The American Documentary Film Festival).

Full Frame is one of the preeminent documentary film festivals in the United States, and was recently named one the Top Dozen Documentary Film Festivals by Indiewire. Stay tuned for more news and information on screening details, including how to buy your tickets!  

European Screenings of Saving Mes Aynak

The filmmakers of Saving Mes Aynak are also excited for the film’s two most recent European festival selections: the 18th International Vera Film Festival in Åland, Finland and the upcoming Millenium International Documentary Film Festival held in Brussels, Belgium. For our friends in Finland, the film will screen today (Friday, March 13) at 9:45pm. Millenium will be held from March 20 - 28, 2015, and screens Saving Mes Aynak on Saturday, March 21 at 8:00 p.m. and again on Saturday, March 28 at 10:30 a.m. Tickets are on sale now!

We take great pride in our international screenings. Our goal is to share Mes Aynak with audiences across the globe, and help build a strong and vocal community who believe this monumental site should be saved and preserved. We hope to be announcing more worldwide screenings and festivals in the coming weeks and months!  

Announcing our U.S. Premiere: Saving Mes Aynak to Screen at AmDocs on March 28!

We are proud to announce that Saving Mes Aynak will have its U.S. Premiere at AmDocs (The American Documentary Film Festival) on Saturday, March 28 at 6:30 p.m. in beautiful Palm Springs, CA. We couldn’t be more excited about taking part in this up-and-coming film festival, which was recently voted one of the “Top Five Coolest Documentary Film Festivals in the World” by MovieMaker magazine.

Tickets are $10.00, and can be purchased in advance here. To learn more about AmDocs, including its full schedule and venue locations, please visit their official website.

We look forward to bringing Saving Mes Aynak to California to share the story of this beautiful and historic site tragically on the brink of destruction. Thank you all for your continued and unwavering support!

Saving Mes Aynak receives Abu Rayhan Biruni Award

The first ever Ahvaz International Science Film Festival has given the prestigious Abu Rayhan Biruni Award to Saving Mes Aynak.

The filmmakers, including director Brent E. Huffman and producer Zak Piper, are honored to receive this award, which is given to the Best Film in the Archaeology, Architecture, History and Urban Planning section.

This accolade is named after Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī, who is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era, and an early pioneer in the study of comparative religion. He spent a large part of his life in modern day Afghanistan. Again, we are all deeply moved to receive this special award, and our thanks to the Ahvaz International Science Film Festival for honoring Saving Mes Aynak.  

Incredible Update: Newly discovered Buddha statues at Mes Aynak!

Three life-size Buddha statues have just been discovered by Afghan archaeologists at Mes Aynak - one of which is complete and untouched by looters!

These great findings offer further proof that there is so much yet to be discovered at Mes Aynak. Incredible artifacts like these are being unearthed every day at the immense ancient city in Afghanistan.

You can help save priceless discoveries like these by buying a limited-edition film poster today. Net proceeds of poster sales go to Afghan archaeologists working at Mes Aynak. Visit our store for more details.

Click to enlarge images below of the discovered statues:

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Now Selling: Limited-Edition Film Poster by artist Rima Fujita!

Buy this limited-edition film poster and help archaeologists at Mes Aynak!

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"In an attempt to help in a bigger way...  the Saving Mes Aynak team in Chicago will be launching a poster sale of legendary Japanese artist Rima Fujita’s breathtaking painting, Save Mes Aynak, created specifically for the documentary."

- Brent E. Huffman, director of Saving Mes Aynak
 

Net proceeds of all poster sales will go to our partner, Afghans4Tomorrow - a registered non-profit, humanitarian organization dedicated to the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. Afghans4Tomorrow will oversee disbursement of funds, less expense, to support future excavation work at this threatened heritage site. Posters will be delivered in early 2015. Buy your poster today!

Fair Observer: Saving Mes Aynak, Revisited

Read the latest news story from the Fair Observer written by director Brent E. Huffman where he talks about making the film, significant updates on Mes Aynak, and the latest way you can help!

FIPA to host French Premiere of Saving Mes Aynak

Saving Mes Aynak has been selected for the prestigious FIPA Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels, screening this January 21, 2015 in Biarritz, France. 

It is a rare honor for an American documentary to screen at the festival, now in its 28th edition. Get details of the screening. Congratulations to director Brent Huffman, producer Zak Piper, and their team.

The film follows Afghan archaeologist Qadir Temori as he races against time to save a 5,000-year-old archaeological site in Afghanistan from imminent demolition by a Chinese state-owned mining company which is eager to harvest $100 billion dollars worth of copper buried directly beneath the archaeological ruins.

The FIPA screening is the film's first of what promises to be a very busy 2015, following a successful world premiere at IDFA in November 2014.

The US premiere of Saving Mes Aynak will be coming soon but is still yet to be announced, but we are delighted to present an exclusive sneak preview on March 6, 2015 7:00 PM at Northwestern University's Block Museum. This free screening will be attended by Brent Huffman, who is a faculty member at Northwestern's Medill School. Get more details.

Autlook Film Sales is representing Saving Mes Aynak for international sales.

This Holiday Season: Support Saving Mes Aynak!

Donate to Saving Mes Aynak this holiday season! The filmmakers still need to raise funds to complete the final edit of the film. Your support, even with a small donation, can have a big impact. So please consider making a tax-deductible donation and help us reach this goal! 

Kartemquin Educational Films is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Thank you for your support.