Join us for the INSCIENCE: Dutch International Film Festival on Nov. 6 - 7!

Afghan Archaeologist Qadir Temori hard at work, Saving Mes Aynak

Please join us for two festival screenings of Saving Mes Aynak at the InScience: Dutch International Film Festival in Nijmegen, Netherlands on November 6 & 7. InScience has put together a wonderful pairing of "film + talk" discussions for SMA: 

After the screening at 18:45 on November 6, Dr. Evert van der Zweerde (Professor of Political Philosophy, Radboud University) and Dr. Paul van der Velde (Professor of Asian Studies, Radboud University) will participate in a discussion about the importance of archaeology, the unique religious history of Afghanistan, and the current political climate surrounding Mes Aynak. 

On November 7 (16:45), archaeologist Niels Stoffels will provide an introduction to the film, and afterward the screening, writer Johan Roos Literair Productiehuis Wintertuin will read an impressionistic poetic report, which he will create live while watching the film. 

Tickets for both events are currently available for purchase on the InScience website. InScience is a unique film festival that, "focuses purely on science film and shows the beauty and relevance of science via film to a broad audience. InScience dares science, the arts and society to enter the dialogue. The program of InScience most importantly exists of an overview of the best science films of the year."

We're proud to be a part of this important intellectual festival. We hope you will be able to join us!

SMA to Play the Festival of Southasian Documentaries in Kathmandu, Nepal

Saving Mes Aynak will screen in beautiful Kathmandu, Nepal as a part of Film Southasia's Festival of Southasian Documentaries! Film South Asia, which takes place this year from November 19 - 22, was founded in 1997 with the goal of highlighting films about South Asia, and popularizing documentary films that can inform and change lives. We are proud to be partnering with this wonderful organization for our Nepali premiere! 

Click here to learn more about our screening and the Festival of Southasian Documentaries

SMA to Premiere in Japan for the IAFOR Documentary Film Award & Festival on November 14!

Saving Mes Aynak will be the featured documentary film for the IAFOR Documentary Film Award & Festival in Kobe, Japan on Saturday, November 14th! Director Brent Huffman will be in attendance, and after the screening will host a Q&A discussion with the audience. This year's event will take place at the Art Center of Kobe; tickets are available online until November 13th for ¥1,500, and will then be ¥2,000 at the door. 

"The IDFA was founded to seek out and reward the storytellers, documentarians and filmmakers who have demonstrated excellence in the craft of documentary filmmaking. We wish to acknowledge these artisans by presenting a showcase of their work and reward them with the equipment, tools, and resources they will need to further continue working in the craft."

Click here to learn more!

"Buddha Goes Boppard" Doku Film Festival Screening on November 1

Saving Mes Aynak will screen at the "Buddha Goes Boppard" Doku Film Festival in Boppard, Germany on November 1 at 2pm! The festival, presented by the Sawa Rigpa Foundation, serves to highlight documentary films that document and analyze the Buddhist faith and its history. 

You can check out the full lineup of films here. Tickets to this year's festival are available for a 15 € donation! 

U.S. Embassy Sponsors Project to Preserve Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage

A reminder of the epic size and beauty of Mes Aynak. Remember: only 10% of the site has been fully excavated. 

A potentially history-changing development is taking place in Afghanistan: the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan has just announced the launch of a new embassy-sponsored project with the Oriental Institute (University of Chicago) and the Afghanistan Institute of Archaeology to help preserve Afghanistan's cultural heritage. The effect this could have on Afghanistan's rich history is invaluable, and we hope that it serves to help protect Mes Aynak and sites like it all over Afghanistan.

Read the full press release below

"The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan is proud to announce the launch of a new U.S. Embassy-sponsored project with the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and the Afghanistan Institute of Archaeology to help preserve Afghanistan’s cultural heritage.  The project, formally launched on October 21, 2015 in a ceremony with Minister of Information and Culture Abdul Bari Jahani and Director of the Afghanistan Institute of Archaeology, Abdul Qadir Timori, will produce a satellite-based map database of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage sites and train young Afghans in the field of archaeology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). 

The database will be the first of its kind in the Middle East and Central Asia, and will allow the Afghan government to map all archaeological heritage sites in the country, document the current state of site preservation, monitor looting, and serve as a planning tool to incorporate heritage protection into mining and other economic development projects.  Director of the Oriental Institute, Dr. Gil Stein, noted that this project “is explicitly focused on capacity building at the Afghan Institute of Archaeology and on documenting the extent of looting of archaeological sites across Afghanistan as an important tool for heritage preservation. As such our work complements and adds to the efforts of other projects dealing with other aspects of regional heritage documentation.”

The U.S. Embassy is currently funding projects worth more than $6.5 million to support Afghanistan in the protection of its unique and globally important cultural heritage."

SMA Wins the Grand Prize at the Arkhaios Film Festival!

We are proud to announce that over the weekend, Saving Mes Aynak won the Grand Prize Award at the 2015 Arkhaios Cultural Heritage and Archaeology Film Festival! We feel incredibly honored to have been selected for this distinction. Not only that, but the film was also selected for the Audience Favorite Film Award for Day 3. We're happy that we were able to take part in this wonderful festival, and share the important story of Mes Aynak with the people of Hilton Head, SC. 

Thank you to the Arkhaios Film Festival, and the 2015 Jury Selection Committee: 

- Dr. Karl Heider (Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of South Carolina)

- Dr. Steve Smith (Director of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina, Research Associate Professor) 

- Dr. Rex Garniewicz (President and CEO of the Coastal Discovery Museum)

- Steven McLean Folks (award-winning Filmmaker, South Carolina ETV)

- Lynne Cope Hummell (Writer, Editor of the Bluffton Sun and the Hilton Head Sun)

An additional thank you to Lynne for the kind words she wrote about the film in a recent Hilton Head Sun article: 

The film was amazingly well done and the story fascinating. As I said in my notes, "About halfway through, I wanted to book a flight and go help Qadir [the archaeologist]. Incredibly powerful." 

Don't Forget: Please Join us on October 17th at Yale University

For those in the Northeastern area, Saving Mes Aynak will be screening at Yale University on October 17th as a guest of the Yale Himalaya Initiative. Festivities kick off at 6:15pm EST with a special dinner, after which the screening starts at 7pm EST. Director Brent E. Huffman will be in attendance to host a Q&A and discussion. We hope you are able to join us! 

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

This event for the Yale Himalaya Initiative is co-sponsored by the Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, and supported by the South Asian Studies Council & the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

SMA Wins the Best One-Hour Documentary Prize at Cinemambiente in Italy!

We are incredibly honored to be the recipient of the prize for best documentary in the "International One-Hour Film Competition" at the 2015 Cinemambiente International Environmental Film Festival in Torino, Italy!

This special prize recognizes Saving Mes Aynak for its, "balanced presentation and concise treatment of the political, cultural, human, social, and environmental issues in present day Afghanistan." Our thanks to Cinemambiente and jury members Natasha Despotovic, Antonella Frontani, and Massimiliano Mazzotta for this wonderful recognition. 

Cinemambiente, which is now in its 18th year, is one of the leading environmental film festivals in the world. You can learn more about this important festival and their mission to help save the planet by raising green awareness through cinema by visiting their website. 

See SMA at the CINEMAMBIENTE Environmental Film Festival in Turin, Italy on Oct. 9th

We're excited to bring Saving Mes Aynak to Italy for the 18th annual Cinemambiente - Environmental Film Festival on October 9th at 6pm! Cinemambiente is an important film festival that presents outstanding environmental films in order to promote cinema and green awareness. Their motto, "Movies Save the Planet" is one that we believe in, and we're honored to be a part of this year's festival. 

You can learn more about our upcoming screening by visiting their website here

Indiewire Names Brent Huffman As One of 'The 25 Documentary Filmmakers to Follow on Twitter'

Director Brent Huffman's work on social media to help #SaveMesAynak has garnered praise from Indiewire, as Brent was just named one of the '25 Documentary Filmmakers to Follow on Twitter'!

Congratulations, Brent! You can check out the full list of documentary filmmakers here. 

Saving Mes Aynak to Play at the Louvre on January 28th!

We have some very exciting news to share with you: on January 28, 2016 Saving Mes Aynak will play at the Musée de Louvre in Paris, France as a part of the Journées Internationales du Film Sur l'Art. This is a big moment for Mes Aynak, as the Louvre is arguably the most famous museum in the world. More news, including ticket information and exact screening time, is forthcoming; we will update you as soon find out! Until then, please visit the Louvre's website to learn more about its amazing collection of art and history. 

Join Us on October 17th at Yale University

We are honored to be partnering with the the Yale Himalaya Institute to bring Saving Mes Aynak to Yale University for a screening on Saturday, October 17th at 7:00pm! After the screening will be a Q&A with the director Brent E. Huffman, who will be in attendance. The screening is also co-sponsored by the Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. Thank you to Yale University for allowing us to screen our film and share the story of Mes Aynak with its student body and surrounding community. 

Screening Location:

Luce Hall Auditorium See map
34 Hillhouse Ave
New Haven, CT 06511

Click here to learn more about this screening and the Yale Himalaya Institute!

SMA is an Official Selection of the Arkhaios Film Festival

Please join us on Saturday, October 24th at 3:30pm ET in Hilton Head Island, SC for the Arkhaios Film Festival! 

Founded in 2013 by Jean Guilleux, The Arkhaios Cultural Heritage and Archaeology Film Festival takes place each year to celebrate South Carolina's Archaeology Month. As a part of their educational initiative to share the discovery of past cultures and the importance of archaeological research with the local surrounding community, the screening will be FREE to the general public. 

If you are in the South Carolina area, we hope you will be able to join us for this special community event. Please tell your friends, too! 

Click here to learn more about Arkhaios and our upcoming screening

Join us at the 1st Annual Providence Art & Design Film Festival on October 31

Saving Mes Aynak will screen at the first annual Art & Design Film Festival in Providence RI on Saturday, October 31 at 1:30pm! We are proud to be a part of this burgeoning festival and included in their inaugural lineup. A big thank you to the Providence Cinematheque and Cable Car Cinemas for all of their hard work. 

You can purchase tickets online by clicking here

We hope you will be able to join us! 

The Afghanistan Minister of Mines and Petroleum Makes a Promise to Build Mes Aynak Museum

Photo Opportunity: Afghanistan's Minister of Mines and Petroleum Daud Saba, standing in front of a Buddha statue and surrounded by cameras at Mes Aynak. 

Daud Saba, Afghanistan's Minister of Mines and Petroleum has promised to build a new museum dedicated to Mes Aynak and it's 5,000 (and counting) years of history. This museum will purportedly be built in Logar Province (where Mes Aynak is located) on 40 hectares (98 acres) of land allocated just for this project. 

Although this is a positive development for preserving the artifacts already excavated from the site, it will do nothing to save the site itself, or the irreplaceable structures, temples, and stupas that cannot be moved. 90% of the site has yet to be excavated, and this museum -- while important -- will do nothing to ensure that Mes Aynak and its thousands of years of untold history is protected. 

We applaud the Afghan government for looking to preserve some of Mes Aynak's history, but we implore them to protect and save the site itself -- not just pieces from it -- for all future generations to learn from.

September 15 - Special Screening at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace!

We are excited to announce that Saving Mes Aynak will screen in Washington, DC for a one-night-only event at the renowned Carnegie Endowment for International Peace! Please join us on September 15 at 5:30pm EST for this special screening; in attendance will be director Brent E. Huffman, who will participate in a Q&A discussion following the film presentation alongside Tom Carver, Carnegie's VP for Communications and Strategy (and former BBC correspondent). We hope to see you there! 

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND

EVENING SCHEDULE
- Reception: 5:30 - 6:30pm
- Screening: 6:30 - 7:30pm
- Discussion with Brent Huffman and Tom Carver: 7:30 - 8:30pm

NPR: What's Better For Afghanistan's Future: Buddha Tours Or A Copper Mine?

NPR published an insightful piece on Mes Aynak, its fate, and the potential future of Afghanistan. You can read the full article below, or on the NPR website. 

NPR Staff: 

About an hour's drive south of Kabul, there's a vast Buddhist archaeological site dating back at least 1,500 years. It happens to be sitting on top of one of the biggest untapped copper deposits in the world, potentially worth billions of dollars.

Eight years ago, the Afghan government made a deal with a Chinese conglomerate to mine the copper, but mining hasn't begun and likely won't for several more years. The area in which the copper is located, Logar Province, presents challenges in both security and infrastructure: no reliable water or power supply, no railway for transporting copper and increasing threats from the Taliban.

The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that Afghanistan holds $1 trillion in mineral wealth but none of it has ever been developed. This could represent a huge and much-needed source of revenue for a country long dependent on foreign aid. But given other countries' experience of the so-called "resource curse," concerns have been raised over whether Afghanistan's natural resources can or will be exploited responsibly. And part of the concern has centered around whether extracting copper at Mes Aynak must result inevitably in the destruction of a spectacular archaeological site that has been compared to Machu Picchu and Pompeii. Historical riches like this, advocates argue, represent a different kind of wealth, and could hold the key to a thriving tourism industry in the future.

Hannah Bloch wrote about Mes Aynak in the September issue of National Geographic magazine. The images in this post are from that issue.

Tourism in Afghanistan?

It may sound farfetched now, but keep in mind that tourists think nothing of going to Angkor Wat, and Cambodia was completely ravaged by war just a few decades ago. Tourism is big in Vietnam, too. Afghanistan has breathtaking natural beauty and historic sites. Before all the years of conflict that have come to dominate what we think we know of Afghanistan today, the country was a tourist destination for adventure travelers. It was a must-stop on the "hippie trail" as travelers (many in search of cheap drugs) went overland through Asia, and tourists flocked to Bamiyan to see two colossal, sixth-century statues of the Buddha carved into a cliff-face.

Those are the statues that were destroyed by the Taliban?

The Taliban blew up the Bamiyan Buddhas in March 2001, and even up till then some tourists had been coming to marvel at them. Bamiyan really depended on tourism income, and now it has virtually none. I visited there in Dec. 2013, and saw a few Afghan students roaming around the site where the Buddhas once stood but definitely no tourists.

I know this is off the topic of the mine, but could the statues ever be resurrected to bring back tourists?

The rubble from the destruction of the Buddhas has all been gathered and saved on site while Afghanistan, UNESCO and the international community try to figure out whether to rebuild the Buddhas or not. Many folks in Bamiyan support rebuilding because they believe it'll help bring tourists back, and the local economy has really taken a beating in their absence for the last 14 years.

But there's also a push to keep the niches empty. My own feeling is people would still come. Those empty niches are a powerful reminder of what was once there. But for tourism to start up, a lot will have to change. For now, it's really only safe to get to Bamiyan by plane. Most companies, NGOs and even the Afghan government have forbidden their employees to travel by road because it's so dangerous — it's subject to Taliban roadblocks.

So clearly, security is key to any future economic development.

Security is the issue that is really going to have to be addressed before there can be any tourism. Or copper mining, for that matter.

You mentioned the "resource curse." Part of the curse can be the environmental devastation that results from extracting resources like copper. Is that an issue here?

I talked to local activists and researchers who were very concerned about the environmental impact. There's a scarcity of water in the area as it is, and locals think it will only get worse once mining starts. Villagers told Integrity Watch Afghanistan that the water table dropped by six feet when preliminary drilling for the mine started. It's a big worry for them — and pollution is, too. They fear the chemicals used in processing copper could percolate through Logar Province's ground into aquifers that are shared with Kabul.

There are also worries that once full copper production starts, the mining could generate millions of tons of waste rock and processing byproducts called tailings every year. It's unclear where that would be disposed.

So is it possible to protect the archaeology at a place like Mes Aynak but still have mining?

A group of experts examined the issues in 2012 and concluded that the two could occur "in parallel." The World Bank — which has been supporting both Mes Aynak's archaeology and the prospective mine with millions of dollars in grants — seems to think both mining and heritage protection are possible. But probably easier said than done. It strikes me as unfair when outsiders want to begrudge Afghanistan the right to exploit and benefit from its own tremendous mineral wealth. And some of the foreign archaeologists I spoke with understood that very well and felt it was not their place to say Afghanistan should forgo a mine in favor of cultural heritage.

But others, especially some of the Afghan archaeologists I met, felt very strongly that Mes Aynak should be studied and preserved and there should be absolutely no mining. The copper is going to run out someday, they said, but the statues are forever. The part of the site that they've been concentrating on, which is yielding an incredible wealth of finds, would be completely destroyed by a mine.

I guess the irony is that none of the archaeology would be going on if there were no prospect of a mine. It's the threat of the mine that galvanized the cultural heritage community to demand that the site be properly excavated and recorded to the extent possible. And the World Bank has poured a lot of money into the effort. At first the archaeologists were rushing to do their work because they were given a quick deadline, but there have been so many delays to starting the mine that it's worked to the advantage of the archaeology. Mes Aynak was already being looted before 2007 and if there were no archaeology (and no prospect of a mine), it seems likely the place would be destroyed by looting. That's a problem at a number of Afghan sites.

The thing to remember, too, is that archaeology is by its very nature a destructive science. The Society for American Archaeology says, "Once a site is excavated it is gone forever." So the only way to really preserve a place like Mes Aynak would be to keep it completely untouched.

That doesn't seem like an option.

No, especially since the archaeology is already well underway — and keeping it untouched means everything they're finding would never have the chance to be appreciated by anybody. But maybe it's worth remembering that the Buddha taught his followers that change is inevitable and not to be attached to material objects. The archaeologists at Mes Aynak are definitely attached, understandably, to what they're digging up, but the notion of impermanence doesn't really escape them, either. A Tajik archaeologist said to me: "All of us are only guests in this world."

And what's the prevailing wisdom in government circles: mining or tourism?

It depends whom you ask. Mining is widely seen a potential "backbone" for the economy, so there's a lot of acknowledgment of the huge role it can play. But there's pride in Afghan heritage, too, and a mining minister from the previous Afghan government told me the government was learning a lot about how best to proceed through this experience with Mes Aynak. The current president, Ashraf Ghani, is actually an anthropologist by training and made a point of visiting the archaeological site at Mes Aynak back in the winter.

I was told by a former culture ministry official that tourism was the second-largest source of income for Afghanistan in the 1970s. He told me now he wants to see the country's first income be from tourism and he does believe tourism is going to the answer in the long term.

It's not just ancient history they're finding at Mes Aynak, right? The area has a dramatic recent history as well.

Right. The 9/11 Commission reported that Mes Aynak was the site of an elite al Qaida training camp in the 1990s. Four of the 9/11 hijackers were trained right there. I was taken by one of the archaeologists to visit a cave that was used as part of the camp. He took me through it as if it were an ancient site — and it did look pretty rough. The ceiling was blackened. He said it was from a U.S. firebomb in late 2001. He pointed out a pen where the fighters kept their livestock, the stone slab "sofa" they sat on and slept on, the place where they stored their food. It was very strange to put such a recent and horrifying set of events into historical context like this, but he said to me, "This, too, is a kind of archaeology."

It made me wonder what archaeologists of the future are going to study in Afghanistan and what kind of Afghanistan those archaeologists will be working in — a peaceful, prosperous tourist destination where Mes Aynak is a household name and a place that's easy to visit, like Pompeii today? Or someplace violent and fractious and facing an uncertain future? I hope it's the former.

Japanese and German Premieres of Saving Mes Aynak

Picture: Quote from Qadir Temori, lead Afghan archaeologist at Mes Aynak and main subject of Saving Mes Aynak. Pictured here are a few of the many brave Afghan workers who are risking their lives to protect this important site's history. 

The International Academic Forum (IAFOR)has announced that Saving Mes Aynak will be the featured screening at the 2015 IAFOR Documentary Film Awards!

The film's director, Brent E. Huffman, will receive their  and be the Keynote Speaker at IAFOR's  and The Asian Conference on Film & Documentary (FilmAsia2015). This year the events take place in November 12-15 at the Art Center of Kobe in Kobe, Japan. Saving Mes Aynak will screen on November 14 in its Japanese premiere.

Saving Mes Aynak was also recently announced as an official selection of the 2015 Doku.Arts Festival in Berlin. The film will screen twice in its German premiere at the event, to be held September 9-27 at Deutsches Historisches Museum.

More upcoming screenings in the US and internationally will be announced soon!

New Photos of Mes Aynak in September's Edition of National Geographic!

Mes Aynak is profiled in this month's edition of National Geographic in a thought-provoking article and series of photos. 

You can view these photos in the gallery above, or on the National Geographic website. All credit goes to photographer Simon Norfolk. To read the article by Hannah Bloch, click here. 

Help Raise Awareness of Mes Aynak Through Your Twitter Header!

Twitter is a powerful social media tool that has become an important medium for raising awareness of crucial global issues. You can help spread the word on Mes Aynak by using this #SaveMesAynak Twitter header photo: 

View fullsize

Click on the image above (so it appears in a larger size), and right-click to save and download. After that, simply upload to your Twitter photo by clicking "Edit Profile" on your Twitter page! Together we WILL #SaveMesAynak from destruction!