Current World Archaeology Reviews Saving Mes Aynak

"Huffman has crafted a remarkable film of courage, heroism, and hope. And the fight is not yet over." — Tom St John Gray
 

Saving Mes Aynak was reviewed to critical acclaim in the the current issue of Current World Archaeology Magazine! CWA is one of the world's leading archaeology news magazines, and we're honored to be one of the featured articles in this quarter's edition. Thank you to writer Tom St John Gray for his powerful words; he is right — the fight to save Mes Aynak is not yet over, and if we continue to work together to raise awareness, we can save this important world heritage site from destruction. 
 

read THE FULL ARTICLE ON THE CURRENT WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY WEBSITE

New Artifact Discovered at Mes Aynak

PHOTO: Ground has been broken on a new excavation site at Mes Aynak  

A small Afghan-lead excavation began last month in a new part of this massive, historic site. They recently discovered the head of a statue, which Afghan archaeologists believe to be of the Buddha: 

Full Audio from the Carnegie Endowment Post-Screening Discussion and Q&A!

On September 15, 2015, we had the honor of screening Saving Mes Aynak at the world-renowned Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, one of the most important and influential think tanks in the world. Following the screening, Brent Huffman sat down for a discussion and Q&A with Carnegie's VP for Communications and Strategy Tom Carver, and journalist Hannah Bloch, who recently wrote the National Geographic article "Rescuing Mes Aynak". Embedded above is the full audio from that riveting post-screening discussion. 

As the situation surrounding Mes Aynak continues to worsen, screenings and discussions like this — that help to raise awareness and the profile of Mes Aynak in the public eye — are becoming increasingly important. The more we share the story of Mes Aynak, the better our chances of putting enough pressure on the Afghan government, UNESCO, and the Chinese-State owned mining company to do what NEEDS to be done to ensure that all of Mes Aynak — not just a few artifacts and scattered pictures on pages — is protected and preserved. 

Green Film Network: Saving Mes Aynak, A Love Letter to Afghan People & THeir Culture

A recent photo of Mes Aynak, taken in June 2015. This massive site, equal in size to Pompeii and Machu Picchu, is already re-writing the history of Afghanistan and Buddhism. 90% of the site remains unexcavated, and if plans to mine at the site continue as currently constructed, all of this history will be lost forever.  

Writer Valentina Tibaldi of Habitat wrote a powerful article about Saving Mes Aynak for the Green Film Network. Thank you to Valentina for her support, and for helping share the message of Mes Aynak: 

A denunciation shouted to the world, a fight against time in order to save Mes Aynak, a 5,000-year-old archaeological site in Afghanistan. A symbol of cultural identity of priceless historical value, this place is threatened to be destructed to make place for a Chinese open pit copper mine.

Saving Mes Aynak, a documentary by the filmmaker, writer and journalist Brent E. Huffman, shows all this and much more. Awarded with the International One-Hour Film Prize at CinemAmbiente 2015, member of the Green Film Network, the movie tells the story of the Afghan archeologist Qadir Temori: with a group of fellow archeologists, he faces what seems an impossible battle against the Chinese, the Taliban and local politics to save their cultural heritage from forthcoming erasure.

Click here to read the full article

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