Chicago not-for-profit documentary collective Kartemquin Films will release Saving Mes Aynak free to the people of Afghanistan. The award-winning documentary exposes a Chinese company's plan to turn a 5,000 year-old archeological site in Afghanistan into a copper mine, destroying priceless Buddhist relics.
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
We are thrilled to announce the Chicago premiere of Kartemquin Film’s newest award-winning documentary Saving Mes Aynak on June 2nd at The Music Box Theatre!
In October, Saving Mes Aynak will be a part of ICRONOS - International Archaeology Film Festival of Bordeaux in France. ICRONOS is a prestigious film festival of archaeological films, established in 1986. We are grateful for this opportunity to show Saving Mes Aynak to archaeology enthusiasts and experts from all around the world. Oct 26-29, 2016
Watch the festival's trailer of Saving Mes Aynak!
Saving Mes Aynak will screen at the prestigious Beirut Art Film Festival on November 9th! The film will screen side by side to an impressive roster of films on historic art, museums, and artists around the world.
This weekend Saving Mes Aynak will be in Shepherdstown, VA, for a screening with American Conservation Film Festival, where the film will be awarded Green Spark Award. Then, in a week, we will be in Bordeaux, France, for ICRONOS - International Festival of Archaeological Films! Check out the festival's trailer for Saving Mes Aynak:
As we near the end of 2016, we are excited to share some incredible news about “Saving Mes Aynak." Please read on for the fall news of "Saving Mes Aynak!"
Image of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, where "Saving Mes Aynak" will screen this November.
"Saving Mes Aynak" travels coast to coast from the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC to the UCLA Film & Television Archive in Los Angeles through the China Onscreen Biennial (COB), a showcase of Chinese film and media arts for American audiences. "Saving Mes Aynak" will be a part of COB's program called Dunhuang Projected, named after the eponymous town in the Gobi Desert in northwestern China that was an important nexus of the Silk Road from 400-1400 CE, and the gateway for Buddhism from India into China.
Director Brent E. Huffman will attend the post-screening Q&A at UCLA via Skype and attend the National Gallery of Art in person take full part in this exciting Biennial. The screening at UCLA will begin with a 30-minute meditation session.
"Saving Mes Aynak" will be screened today at the San Francisco Public Library as an encore screening from last April's San Francisco Green Film Festival.
Throughout the month of October, "Saving Mes Aynak" will be broadcast in Europe again via GEO Television! Please refer to our website for broadcast times. We sincerely hope that through this broadcast, more European viewers can see the film.
At ICRONOS, France, "Saving Mes Aynak" will be presented to a global roster of archaeology experts and enthusiast at this historic film festival. We also have an exciting screening lined up with Beirut Art Film Festival. We are honored to be screening the film around one of the most artistic and vibrant corners of the world.
"Saving Mes Aynak" is also headed to from 17 to 23 October in Athens at the Greek Cinema Archive for the 10th International Meeting of Archaeological Film - AGON. "Saving Mes Aynak" will be among 103 films from 17 different countries!
Thank you all for the great run "Saving Mes Aynak" was able to have so far! We will continue the work of spreading the word about Mes Aynak.
Original artwork courtesy of Rima Fujita.
The home DVD of "Saving Mes Aynak" is now available for pre-booking! The DVD features 15 minutes of never-seen-before scenes from Mes Aynak, as well as foreign language subtitles in French, German, Italian, and Japanese, all created by volunteers from around the globe who donated their time and expertise to this important project. You can purchase the DVDs on the websites of Saving Mes Aynak, Kartemquin Films, and Icarus Films starting November 8th.
Pre-order is live now! Please email HomeVideo@icarusfilms.com to pre-book DVDs.
Saving Mes Aynak had a full-house screening in Kabul
Following last April's screening with American University of Afghanistan, the Solidarity Party of Afghanistan invited "Saving Mes Aynak" for a public screening in Kabul. We are grateful for the courageous audience that came to the screening despite risks, and for the help of Afghan citizens in the U.S. who spread the word about this screening.
"Saving Mes Aynak" returned to Chicago for a meaningful screening with the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago! Director Brent E. Huffman was in attendance for a Q&A.
"Saving Mes Aynak" had a sold-out screening in Hong Kong with Thus Have I Seen (T.H.I.S.) Buddhist Film Festival. Organized by Dharma in Action, the festival shows a collection of exquisite films that "reflect the cultural, social and religious aspects of this world religion."
On a surprising note, "Saving Mes Aynak" was invited to the 15th Pyongyang International Film Festival! in North Korea, whose mission is to "promote exchange and cooperation between world filmmakers with the ideal of Independence, Peace and Friendship." This is an honor for all filmmakers involved in "Saving Mes Aynak" as this is all of our first time showing our work in North Korea.
Trailer of "Saving Mes Aynak" for the Buddhist True Network of South Korea
"Saving Mes Aynak" will hit Korean TV through August! Buddhist True Network (BTN), apremier Buddhist channel of South Korea. BTN has invited "Saving Mes Aynak" to air over 8 times, both on TV and online. Through this broadcast, we hope to connect with Koreanaudience who, with the country's long history with Buddhism, understand the importance of cultural heritage sites.
If you have any ideas for local screenings, workshops, or more, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Brent will be in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, this October to receive Green Spark Award at American Conservation Film Festival, "Saving Mes Aynak" was commended as "the most deserving of the Green Spark Award for drawing attention to a conservation hero." Thank you!
"Saving Mes Aynak" also took home the top prize for best international documentary at the Life After Oil Film Festival in Sardinia, Italy! This is a huge honor from a panel of juries spanning Italian filmmakers, journalists, academics, and activists. On top of the prize, Life After Oil was a wonderful opportunity to engage with international audience in an incredible outdoor venue. We are grateful!
We are thrilled to be able to finally share the home DVDs with you! We hope that with the DVDs, "Saving Mes Aynak" will be screened at more homes, schools, and other institutions than ever, prompting widespread education and conversations on the beauty and significance of Mes Aynak and other cultural heritage under threat. Together we MUST SAVE MES AYNAK in 2016!
Pre-booking of the Saving Mes Aynak home DVDs is live! Please visit Icarus Films's website to put in your order. DVDs will be released and start delivering on November 8th!
You can also put in your pre-order via 1 (800) 876-1610 (toll-free) or Email: HomeVideo@IcarusFilms.com.
We can't wait for the home DVDs to arrive.
We are delighted to announce that home DVD of Saving Mes Aynak will be released by November 8th from our U.S. distributor, Icarus Films. The DVD features 15 minutes of never-seen-before scenes from Mes Aynak, as well as foreign language subtitles in French, German, Italian, and Japanese, all supplied by our passionate viewers of the film. If you are interested in pre-booking the film, please email homevideo@icarusfilms.com. DVD will go on sale on our website along with Saving Mes Aynak posters. Special thanks to artist Rima Fujita for this visionary poster design.
Mark your calendars! Saving Mes Aynak by Brent E. Huffman, a Kartemquin Films, will be released on Nov 8
— Icarus Films (@IcarusFilms) September 16, 2016
An... https://t.co/y9fqnlzOLq
Saving Mes Aynak is going to North Korea as part of the 15th Pyongyang International Film Festival! Saving Mes Aynak is the first film among the roster of Kartemquin Films' productions to set foot in North Korea. The Festival, whose mission is to "promote exchange and cooperation between world filmmakers with the ideal of Independence, Peace and Friendship," will be from September 16 to 21, 2016.
Saving Mes Aynak will be returning to Hong Kong, this time for the Thus Have I Seen (T.H.I.S.) Buddhist Film Festival on September 18th. Organized by Dharma in Action, the festival shows a collection of exquisite films that "reflect the cultural, social and religious aspects of this world religion." Check out the trailer T.H.I.S. has created of the film!
Saving Mes Aynak will be receiving the prestigious Green Spark Award at American Conservation Film Festival happening the 3rd and 4th weekend of October in Shepherdstown, Virginia. The American Conservation Film Festival committee chose two winners of the Green Spark Award out of nearly 300 films submitted this year, citing Saving Mes Aynak as "the most deserving of the Green Spark Award for drawing attention to a conservation hero." We are honored for this recognition and excited that Brent will be receiving the award in person in October!
At the sold-out screening of San Francisco Green Film Festival last April. Homayoun Sakhi, the composer of the film, was warmly received by the crowd. a
Saving Mes Aynak is returning to San Francisco for the encore screening with San Francisco Green Film Festival! The screening will be held on Oct 5, 2016 at the historic San Francisco Public Library. We appreciate the warm welcome we have received in San Francisco and hope that those who could not come to the first screening make it!
Saving Mes Aynak will be on air throughout Europe again on GEO Television October 12 through 21! We sincerely hope that more European viewers can see the film, now also available in Dutch, Italian, German, French, and Japanese on VHX!
Geo Television Broadcast Times:
10/12/2016 Wednesday 1:50 - 2:50
10/13/2016 Thursday 9:55 - 10:55
10/14/2016 Friday 15:00 - 16:00
10/19/2016 Wednesday 1:40 - 2:40
10/19/2016 Wednesday 19:15 - 20:15
10/20/2016 Thursday 7:45 - 8:50
10/21/2016 Friday 13:10 - 14:10
Saving Mes Aynak had a packed screening with the Solidarity Party of Afghanistan earlier this month. We are grateful for the courageous audience that came to the screening despite risks. The organizers of this screening wrote an heartfelt recap of the film, voicing their criticism of the corrupt deal with MCC and unending destruction of the environment and heritage of Afghanistan.
Afghan citizens in the U.S. extended their helping hand away from home to show the film to as many Afghans in Kabul as possible: Professor Khinjani at University of Montana's Defense Critical Language and Culture Program, who has long worked to teach girls and women in Afghanistan, helped spread the word to her connections in Kabul. Associates of the Afghanistan Project with the Oriental Institute, which Qadir has been invited to lead, also chipped in to spread the word.
Professor Shahrani at Indiana University shared the news with colleagues and friends at the American Institute of Afghanistan, Kabul’s Public Library, and other Afghan scholars excelling around the world. We appreciate sincere help and participation from the audience of the film and hope to be able to hold many more local screenings with Afghan citizens before the end of this year!
We are heartbroken to hear of last Wednesday's attack on the American University of Afghanistan campus. A student, going to school on a scholarship, lost his life on his second day at the university. Hundreds others were terrorized by two gunmen and an explosion--a nine-hour siege that took lives of at least 16 people, including eight students and two professors.
Photo attributed to the attack on American University of Afghanistan in Kabul pic.twitter.com/EVunzOpyd3
— KAZEMI, Mustafa (@CombatJourno) August 24, 2016
Located in the capital, American University of Afghanistan has been a safe haven for the best and brightest of the nation, remaining intact amid frequent attacks in Kabul; that is, until earlier this month, when two professors, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped. Their location is still unknown. Experts say AUAF has been a target for attacks because of its association with foreigners. The Saving Mes Aynak team had a chance to indirectly interact with the student body of American University of Afghanistan when we had a screening on campus last April. In fact, AUAF was the first university in Afghanistan to invite Saving Mes Aynak to screen on campus.
Our thoughts and prayers are with AUAF. We are moved by the bravery and resilience of the community of AUAF and pledge to continue our work on Afghanistan.
Saving Mes Aynak is going to France again for a biannual festival of archaeology films in Bordeaux on October 26th through 29th. ICRONOS - International Festival of Archaeological Film - is praised as "a stable fixture of the European archaeology film festival circuit, creating a valuable venue for producers specializing in this genre" by the Archaeology Chanel. We are excited to screen the film to a community of archaeology enthusiasts from all over Europe!
Saving Mes Aynak will hit Korean TV through August! Buddhist True Network (BTN), a premier Buddhist channel of Korea, has invited Saving Mes Aynak to air over 8 times, both on air and online. Through this broadcast, we hope to connect with Korean audience who, with the country's long history with Buddhism, understand the importance of cultural heritage sites.
Click the image to go to the promo video
Saving Mes Aynak takes home the top prize for best international documentary at the Life After Oil Film Festival in Sardinia, Italy! This is a huge honor from a panel of juries spanning Italian filmmakers, journalists, academics, and activists. On top of the prize, Life After Oil was a wonderful opportunity to engage with international audience in an incredible outdoor venue. Thank you!
Saving Mes Aynak comes back to Chicago for a screening at the Art Institute of Chicago! Director Brent E. Huffman will be in attendance for the Q&A at the Price Auditorium. See you there!
Al Jazeera's promo for Saving Mes Aynak. Click image to view.
An updated version of Saving Mes Aynak hit the air on Al Jazeera English on June 29th and streamed online for free on Al Jazeera's website for a limited time (outside the US). Thank you so much for all who watched and shared this important film.
Viewers expressed their excitement and emotional responses to the broadcast on social media, showing solidarity as always:
#SavingMesAynak an incredibly powerful, moving documentary on the fight to save Afghan culture - a must watch!! pic.twitter.com/uD35aBIuqn
— Annis Turner (@anniskturner) June 29, 2016
The Buddhas Of Mes Aynak: It's Time To Save Greatest Treasures Of Afghanistan - https://t.co/bsjXafYcXb https://t.co/DNq4BBfh8j
— AlvaroDBraga (@alisbuna) June 30, 2016
@narendramodi Pls consider sending Indian ASI team and/or professors, students of archaeological studies 2 this site https://t.co/Jyg47q7zj5
— Trilochana (@Trilochana888) July 1, 2016
Today is the rebroadcast of updated version...this is worthy of appointment viewing.
— Mark LaMet (@LaMetTVNews) June 29, 2016
Hoping to see it myself! https://t.co/fTm8qCt5aF
@AJEnglish @SavingMesAynak @AJWitness It shouldn't be on the archeologists shoulders. We have all failed the Afghan people.
— Hans van Dijk (@hansvandijk1603) June 30, 2016
@AJWitness @SavingMesAynak @AJEnglish I'm watching this and my heart is breaking. Stories and history gone, forever
— Lady Lovely Lumps (@Chemu18Cheryl) June 30, 2016
Thank you again for all those who made this successful re-broadcast possible! If you are outside U.S., you can stream Saving Mes Aynak online via VHX (still free for people in Afghanistan)! We now have French, Dutch, German, Italian, and Japanese subtitles available for the VHX streaming service. Impassioned viewers of Saving Mes Aynak volunteered to translate the film, making it possible for us to share the film with even wider range of audiences.
Interested in translating the film into a new language? Please visit here.
If you are in the U.S., we are excited to announce that home DVDs of Saving Mes Aynak will be released in November! Please stay tuned - you can purchase the DVDs both websites of Saving Mes Aynak and Kartemquin Films.
Saving Mes Aynak continues to travel the world this summer! We have screenings being organized by audience members in Luxembourg and Kabul, Afghanistan. Spring 2016 was one of the busiest period for Mes Aynak, spanning Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sweden, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, India, Hong Kong, France, Canada, and in the U.S., Seattle, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, and Santa Cruz.
Now Saving Mes Aynak will make its way to the Art Institute of Chicago, a premier museum in the U.S., Italy, Singapore, France, Greece, Lebanon, and Iran. We are also honored to be invited for an encore screening with the San Francisco Green Film Festival this October at the San Francisco Public Library! Furthermore, Saving Mes Aynak will be receiving the prestigious Green Spark Award at American Conservation Film Festival happening the 3rd and 4th weekend of October in Virginia.
Saving Mes Aynak will hit Los Angeles, New York, and Washington DC later this year through the China Onscreen Biennial (COB), a showcase of Chinese film and media arts for American audiences. Saving Mes Aynak will be a part of COB's program called Dunhuang Projected, "named after the eponymous town in the Gobi Desert in northwestern China that was an important nexus of the Silk Road from 400-1400 CE, and the gateway for Buddhism from India into China. The town’s complex of caves hold the largest extant collection of Buddhist art in the world, and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site," according to the organizers.
Thanks to the initiatives of students, professors, and museum professionals, we continue to travel colleges and museums across the country! Director Brent E. Huffman will be in attendance for the post-screening Q&A at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Missouri. McDaniel College will host Saving Mes Aynak for the World Wise Documentary series.
Interested in hosting a screening of Saving Mes Aynak? Contact us.
Saving Mes Aynak is the winner of Green Spark Award at American Conservation Film Festival and the 37th Telly Awards & People's Choice Award.
The American Conservation Film Festival committee chose two winners of the Green Spark Award out of nearly 300 films submitted this year, citing Saving Mes Aynak as "the most deserving of the Green Spark Award for drawing attention to a conservation hero." We are honored for this recognition and excited that Brent will be receiving the award in person in October!
A testimony of continued support from the audience: Saving Mes Aynak won the 37th People's Choice Telly Award! Thank you so much for all who voted for the People's Choice awards. We could not have done it without you.
An illustration created by National Geographic Magazine depicting what Mes Aynak may have looked like 2,000 years ago.
The fate of Mes Aynak is more uncertain than ever. Rana Think Tank, an Afghan group of political and economic analysts, recently urged MCC to re-commence mining, as MCC allegedly attempts to decline the payment of premium to the government, insisting the government to hand over the entire Mes Aynak area. All excavation efforts in Mes Aynak seem to have slowed down throughout this year, with just another devastating suicide attack in Kabul debilitating the well-being of Afghan citizens. Moreover, the World Bank has threatened to end funding at Mes Aynak at some point this summer.
Nonetheless, we continue to do our work to raise awareness and send necessary help to the archaeologists in Mes Aynak. It's you, the audience, can make a difference.
Together we MUST SAVE MES AYNAK in 2016!
http://www.savingmesaynak.com/get-involved/
Al Jazeera English will re-broadcast Saving Mes Aynak worldwide through The Witness programme this June!
Save the date for June 29th for one of many worldwide broadcasts to come. For more information, check out director Brent E. Huffman's brief introduction to Saving Mes Aynak on Al Jazeera English here.
Saving Mes Aynak is running for the 37th Annual Telly Awards and we need your help! The Telly Awards "honors the very best film & video productions, groundbreaking online video content, and outstanding local, regional, & cable tv commercials and programs."
Please rate Saving Mes Aynak here to help us in the running for People's Choice Award. The exposure through this award will help spread awareness of the issue at hand in Mes Aynak.
We had a sold-out screening in Hong Kong with Buddhistdoor and Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hong Kong - a perfect culmination of April for Saving Mes Aynak!
The 200-plus-seat Rayson Huang Theatre was packed with enthusiastic audience, who attended Skype Q&A with the director, Brent E. Huffman.
Saving Mes Aynak was also featured on NHK, a premier broadcasting station in Japan. In celebration of Buddha Day on May 1st, NHK highlighted director Huffman's work with Saving Mes Aynak.
If you are interested in organizing local screenings or broadcasts through the month of May in celebration of the Buddha Day, please contact us.
Saving Mes Aynak will be re-broadcast worldwide on Al Jazeera English in June. Stay tuned!
