Saving Mes Aynak wins big in Bulgaria and CIFF!

We are delighted to announce that Saving Mes Aynak is the winner of the Silver Plaque of the 2016 Chicago International Film Festival Television Awards. The Award distinguishes Saving Mes Aynak's achievements in addressing the arts and humanities in documentary filmmaking. Award ceremony is on April 20. Get a full list of this year's honorees here. 

Saving Mes Aynak also won the Special Jury Mention in Master of Art Film Festival in Bulgaria! Master of Art is the first international Film Festival on the Balkans for art documentaries. We are grateful for these honors and excited for upcoming screenings in Hong Kong, Greece, India, and more!

Sold Out Screening at San Francisco Green Film Fest - more updates!

Saving Mes Ayank had a sold out screening at the San Franscisco Green Film Festival this past Saturday! Thank you to everyone that joined the meaningful occasion. The composer of the film, Homayoun Sahki, received warm welcome from the crowd along with the director, Brent E. Huffman.

The line stretched around the block for #MesAynak! Thank you #SanFrancisco! pic.twitter.com/YGCbEYCFbY

— Saving Mes Aynak (@SavingMesAynak) April 20, 2016

Composer Homayoun Sahki, director Brent Huffman, and CEO & Founder of the Festival, Rachel Caplan. Photo by Keith Blackey - for more photos from the festival, please visit Keith's photo album here.

The following Tuesday, however, troubling news came from Kabul: Taliban assault that left at least 28 dead, over 320 injured.

Source: Associated Press

From what director Huffman was able to gather, none of the archaeologists and those involved in the film is reported to have been impacted by this assault. There is now only a skeleton crew working in Mes Aynak. There are still reports and rumors of looting. The Minister of Mines has been fired due to corruption in the mining industry. The seat currently remains empty - a source of instability over the archaeological efforts in Mes Aynak. 

We appreciate all your support and welcome any suggestions for how we can further galvanize the global community to help Mes Aynak receive proper preservation efforts. Please contact us here to request screenings in your area. We appreciate you!

Saving Mes Aynak at UC Santa Cruz!

Saving Mes Aynak will be screening at the Department of History of Art & Visual Culture of UC Santa Cruz on April 15, Friday. Screening is free. Hope to see you there!

Latest on Archaeologists of Mes Aynak!

We are excited to hear from archaeologists in Mes Aynak as they purchase necessary equipment and furniture for their work. Over the years the "Saving Mes Aynak" campaign has been able to donate over $10,000 for the archaeologists risking their lives to excavate at Mes Aynak. As announced before, Qadir Temori, the head archaeologist of Mes Aynak, is now the director of Afghan Institute of Culture and you can his familiar face below with the new office furniture, computer, generator, and other supplies. We partnered with Kabul-based NGO Afghans4Tomorrow to coordinate the delivery of these crowd-sourced funds. We all appreciate your contribution!

We are so happy to be able to help these heroes of Afghanistan continue to do their essential work to save the threatened cultural heritage of Afghanistan!

Here is a direct link to support their important work:
http://www.savingmesaynak.com/donate/

Screenings in Afghanistan and Hong Kong in April!

Saving Mes Aynak is screening at the American University of Afghanistan on April 3rd. We are delighted to have this chance to hear responses from the Afghan community. 

On April 23rd, the Buddhistdoor and Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hong Kong will screen Saving Mes Aynak. Brent will attend and lead post-screening discussion via Skype. 

April is an exciting month for Saving Mes Aynak. Thank you for your support!

Saving mes aynak Selected to Master of Art Film Festival in Bulgaria and more!

We are excited to announce that Saving Mes Aynak will be screening at the Master of Art Film Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria. Master of Art is the first international Film Festival on the Balkans for art documentaries. 

Saving Mes Aynak will also be in Sweden in April 20 at the National Museum of World Culture in Göteborg alongside an exhibition highlighting contemporary Afghan artists. 

Through October 17 and 23, Saving Mes Aynak will participate in the 10th International Meeting of Archaeological Films (AGON). 

 Saving Mes Aynak continues to run on European TV. The film was featured on French TV on Histoire (HD1) on March 29. KLASIK TV in Croatia will air Saving Mes Ayank later in 2016 as well. 

We are grateful for the film's continued successful run in Europe. This is all thanks to your support!

SMA Is an Official Selection of the San Francisco Green Film Festival

We are proud to announce that Saving Mes Aynak is officially a selection of the 2016 San Francisco Green Film Festival! The SFGFF is one of the preeminent environmental film festivals in the US, and their mission — to spark green ideas & actions, and create dialogue around protecting our planet — is one that we whole-heartedly support.

This year's festival will run from April 14th - 20th at venues all across the Golden Gate City. We don't know our exact screening date yet, but as soon as we find out we will let you know. We hope you will be able to join us. 

Click here to learn more about the San Francisco Green Film Festival

Join Us April 20 at the National Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden

On April 20, 2016, Saving Mes Aynak will screen at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden, in conjunction with Afghan Tales, a new exhibit on contemporary Afghan photographers! 

The Museum of World Culture — which is one of the most prestigious museums in Sweden — aims to, "function as a platform for dialogues and reflections, where many different voices can be heard and controversial and contentious topics discussed - a place where people can feel at home and reach across borders."

We couldn't be more excited about collaborating with this wonderful museum to screen the film, and we hope you will be able to join us. For more information, please visit the museum's (excellent) website, which has an option to view the pages in English. 

Two Exciting International Screenings This Week!

Saving Mes Aynak will be screening in Pakistan and Canada this week.

At the prestigious Festival International du Film sur l'Art in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, Saving Mes Aynak will screen twice on the 11th and 18th. If you are in Canada, now is your time to purchase tickets! 

The Center for Media & Design at Habib University in Karachi, Pakistan, has invited Saving Mes Aynak for its Traveling Film South Asia event, running March 11th through 12th. The Pakistani and international students, faculty, and special guests at this event will discuss documenting and preserving the heritage and histories of diverse religious communities in the Middle East and South Asia. If you are in Pakistan, take a look at the programming of this event here and consider participating. Director Brent E. Huffman will be in Pakistan in March, so stay tuned for more updates from Pakistan! 

February 20: Screening + Director Q&A at the Seattle Art Museum!

Saving Mes Aynak will screen Saturday, February 20, 2016 at the Gardner Center for Asian Art and Ideas as a part of their Sites of Meaning: Cultural Heritage Preservation educational series! Director Brent E. Huffman will be in attendance, and will participate in a Q&A discussion following the film screening. 

The event kicks off at 9:30am (PT) at the Emma Baillargeon Stimson Auditorium. Tickets are $10 for non-museum members, and $5 for SAM members. The Gardner Center is a special initiative of the Asian Art Museum and Seattle Art Museum, and "seeks to explore the vast diversity of Asia and its presence in the world." 

Our heartfelt thanks to Sarah Loudon, Director of the GCAAI, for the opportunity to screen Saving Mes Aynak for the people of Seattle. We hope you will be able to join us!

Click Here to Learn More

New Exhibit in prague Features Artifacts From Mes Aynak

The famed Náprstek Museum in Prague, Czech Republic has a new exhibit on the Buddhist history of Afghanistan, featuring artifacts borrowed from the National Museum in Kabul. The exhibit includes many pieces, like the above gold-gilded Buddha, from Mes Aynak. 

A silver bowl from Mes Aynak, dated between the 3rd and 6th century AD

If you are able, we urge you to visit the exhibit. While we worked hard to show the beauty of Mes Aynak in Saving Mes Aynak, it's another thing entirely to see that beauty in person. 

The exhibit, titled "Afghánistán – zachráněné poklady buddhismu" will go from February 5, 2016 - April 30, 2016.  If you're fluent in Czech, check out this video below that the Náprstek Museum put together for this special event. In anticipation of the exhibit, Saving Mes Aynak also screened at the museum on December 15. 

Educational DVD Now Available Through Icarus Films

Universities, schools, and organizations can now add Saving Mes Aynak to their institutional libraries, as we are happy to announce that our educational dvd is now available through our distributor, Icarus Films. 

Click here purchase your copy of Saving Mes Aynak

Please note that this is the educational dvd release only. These DVDs are licensed with Public Performance Rights for non-commercial and educational exhibition, when no admission fee is charged. DVDs are, "leased for the life of the media." 

Our home and digital release will be in the second half of 2016, so stay tuned!

New York Screening: February 12th at Fordham University!

A recent photo of Mes Aynak. Photo by Didier Tais

For those in New York, now is your chance to see Saving Mes Aynak: the Fordham Art Law Society will be screening the film on Friday, February 12 at 6pm ET! The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Brent Huffman; there will also be a special introduction presented by Serdar Yalcin, Postdoctoral Fellow at Parsons, the New School of Art and Design. 

This screening is sponsored by NYU School of Law Art Law Society,  the Columbia Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Society, and the Fordham Media and Entertainment Law Society. 

Tickets are FREE, but you must register in advance (and tickets are going fast)! Click here to register on EventBrite. 

Saving Mes Aynak to Screen at the Louvre Museum in Paris on Jan. 28th!

In a wonderful development for Mes Aynak, Saving Mes Aynak will screen at the world famous Musée de Louvre in Paris, France as a part of their 'Journées Internationales du Film Sur L'Art' series on January, 28 2016 at 12:30pm. 

To be able to screen Saving Mes Aynak at arguably the most renowned and prestigious museum in the world is a major honor, and we are incredibly excited to be able to reach audiences in France with the story of Mes Aynak. 

More information can be found on their website here. 

Please spread the news, and for our friends in France, we hope to see you there!

A New Partnership with the Acclaimed Icarus Films

One of the many sacred stupas found at Mes Aynak. 

We are incredibly excited to announce our new distribution partnership with the renowned Icarus Films! Icarus Films is one of the world's leading distributors of documentary films, and we are proud to have them on board to oversee the North American educational, home, and digital release of Saving Mes Aynak. 

Icarus Films has an outstanding track record of getting social issue documentaries into the places where they can do the most good: universities, schools, libraries, and cultural organizations, and involved in educational events all over the world like festivals, expos, panels, and symposiums. They are a perfect fit for us and what we hope to accomplish in the future through our film. 

To learn more about Icarus Films, please visit their website. We will be updating you on upcoming screenings, panels, and all of our educational, home DVD, and digital release dates, so please stay tuned! 

Read the official press release from Icarus Films below

SAVING MES AYNAK

Kartemquin Documentary on Afghan Archaeology Released by  Icarus Films

January 11, 2016: Independent documentary firms Icarus Films and Kartemquin Films today announced their collaboration on the film Saving Mes Aynak. Directed by Brent E. Huffman and produced by Kartemquin Films, the film will be distributed by Icarus Films to educational, home and digital markets including college and university libraries across the U.S. and Canada. 

Saving Mes Aynak follows Afghan archaeologist Qadir Temori as he races against time to save a 5,000-year-old archaeological site from imminent demolition. Only 10% of Mes Aynak (pronounced  mees eye-nock) has been excavated, though discoveries at the site have the potential to redefine history. Now, the archaeology site—as well as an entire mountain range—will be completely demolished. Saving Mes Aynak examines the conflict between cultural preservation and economic opportunity as Qadir Temori and his fellow Afghan archaeologists face pressure from the Taliban, a Chinese mining company and local Afghan politics to save their cultural heritage from erasure. 

Saving Mes Aynak is a selection of film festivals including the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, American Documentary Festival Palm Springs and Dokufest Kosovo. The film has won awards from Ahvaz International Science Film Festival of Iran, The Archaeology Channel International Film & Video Festival, Arkhaios Cultural Heritage and Archaeology Film Festival, Cinemambiente International Environmental Film Festival, and the IAFOR Documentary Film Award. International organizations for the preservation and study of art and archaeology have hosted screenings of the film, including the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. and the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

The contract for the distribution of Saving Mes Aynak was signed by Tim Horsburgh for Kartemquin Films and Jonathan Miller for Icarus Films. The two firms have collaborated on a number of projects, most recently making Kartemquin titles available on Docuseek2, an educational streaming platform.

"Advocacy filmmaking at its best and most chilling... That rare doc that needs to be seen." 
—IndieWire

"An engrossing look at the conflict between cultural preservation and economic opportunity."
 —Audiences Everywhere

"A call to action that needs immediate attention... This is a movie that demands you at least tweet your congressman after viewing." 
— Inside Pulse

"Shows the sheer determination of the Afghan archaeologists to protect their culture against overwhelming odds... Huffman has crafted a remarkable film of courage, heroism, and hope."
—Current World Archaeology Magazine

Order Saving Mes Aynak for your school library

Game-Changing Support from The Reva & David Logan Foundation

We are beyond honored to announce that The Reva & David Logan Foundation has awarded Saving Mes Aynak a $50,000 grant to support our outreach and impact goals. This is a game-changing development for us and the movement to #SaveMesAynak. 

The three main pillars of our outreach campaign are to preserve Mes Aynak as a protected cultural heritage site; use the film to widen public perspective of Afghanistan's cultural heritage; and to strengthen the Archaeology Department at the Afghan Ministry of Culture in Kabul to protect Mes Aynak and other important historical sites in Afghanistan. 

Mes Aynak, Winter

We've done much in the past year to strive towards these goals, but this grant will allow us to do more than we ever could have imagined to achieve and accomplish them. We have big plans in 2016 to raise enough awareness to save Mes Aynak from destruction, and we cannot wait to share them with you. Thank you to the Reva & David Logan Foundation for this wonderful honor, and for all that they do for the arts, culture, and history

Mark Your Calendars: Our Indian Premiere SET for January 2016!

View fullsize

Saving Mes Aynak will have its Indian premiere as a part of the Aesthetic Project's symposium, "Treasure and Tragedy from Oxus to Indus: Gandhara, Bactria, and Bamiyan," which takes place January 27 - 28, 2016. 

The Aesthetic Project is a wonderful cultural organization that seeks to be a, "platform for academics, artisans, and performers to explore a variety of topics of Indian art history and aeshetic heritage," and we are incredibly happy to be partnering with them for our Indian premiere. 

The symposium takes place in New Dehli, India. Tickets are currently available, but go quickly; if you're able to attend, we urge to you sign up asap!

Special Holiday Broadcast on Al Jazeera America 12/24 & 12/26!

We are overjoyed to announce that Saving Mes Aynak will have a special holiday re-broadcast on Al Jazeera America on 12/24 (Christmas Eve) and 12/26 at 7pm EST! 

In the months following our initial broadcasts on Al Jazeera English & America this past July, Mes Aynak's profile in the public consciousness has risen exponentially. Our AJ broadcasts and appearances on CNN Amanpour, Huffington Post Live, and Voice of America (Pashto & Dari), along with screenings at renowned institutions like the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, have helped to shine a major light on this important archaeological treasure. Thought-provoking articles about Mes Aynak in National Geographic and reports by NPR have also been instrumental in raising awareness of Mes Aynak around the world. 
 

A beautiful shot of Mes Aynak and the surrounding countryside. Photo by Brent E. Huffman

This broadcast couldn't be more timely, as Mes Aynak continues to be threatened by mining and looting. One of the great triumphs of the Saving Mes Aynak campaign was to push the Afghan government and the Chinese mining company to delay copper mining at the ancient site. But sadly some Afghan ministers and local officials are now pushing for destructive open-pit mining to begin as soon as possible. This mining would both permanently destroy the environment and the priceless cultural heritage at Mes Aynak. To have another opportunity to reach viewers around the world via the Al Jazeera broadcast, and potentially move them to action will go a long way in strengthening the pressure we can put on the Afghan government to rethink their position on Mes Aynak, and put in place the necessary protection of the site to stop looting.

We ask you to please tell your friends, family, and social networks about Mes Aynak, Saving Mes Aynak, and our upcoming Al Jazeera America broadcasts on December 24 & 26. If we all chip in together, we can accomplish something truly wonderful and #SaveMesAynak. 

Our Canadian Premiere is Set: Jan. 30th at the Reframe Film Festival

We are excited to announce that our Canadian premiere is now set for January 30, 2016 at 10am, as an official selection of the Reframe Peterborough International Film Festival!

Reframe is a wonderful festival that seeks to not only celebrate film and art, but "be a catalyst that inspires people to take action." We're proud to be a part of this year's lineup, and to celebrate our Canadian premiere at RPIFF. 

Early bird tickets are now available for purchase on their website. 

The IAFOR Documentary Film Award Honors Brent Huffman

Director Brent  Huffman

Saving Mes Aynak director Brent E. Huffman is the recipient of the prestigious IAFOR Documentary Film Award IDFA Honorary Award! 

Brent was honored on November 14th in Kobe, Japan at a special ceremony at the 2o15 IAFOR Documentary Film Award & Festival, where Saving Mes Aynak was also presented as this year's featured screening. 

Brent has been making social issue documentaries and environmental films for more than a decade in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. His films have gone on to win numerous awards including a Primetime Emmy, three Cine Golden Eagle Awards, A College Emmy, a Student Academy Award, and a Grand Jury Award at AFI's SILVERDOCs. 

IAFOR had this to say about Brent:

"His body of documentary work and his dedication to raising awareness around several important social and environmental issues throughout the world has also made Mr. Huffman the recipient of this year’s IDFA Honorary Award."

Congratulations, Brent! 

The IAFOR Documentary Film Award honoring Brent E. Huffman with the IDFA 2015 Honorary Award