BY FC EXPERT BLOGGER KEVIN LEE Fri Oct 7, 2011

Friday, October 7th marked the 10th anniversary of the War in Afghanistan, which now surpasses the length of the official U.S. military engagement [...]]]> Filmmakers Band Together To Renew Focus On U.S. War In Afghanistan, Now In Its 10th Year

BY FC EXPERT BLOGGER KEVIN LEE Fri Oct 7, 2011

Friday, October 7th marked the 10th anniversary of the War in Afghanistan, which now surpasses the length of the official U.S. military engagement in the Vietnam War. Despite its longevity, the war has receded from daily headlines in mainstream U.S. media which tends to focus more on domestic losses, from Steve Jobs to manufacturing jobs.

But after 10 years, $450 billion dollars, 15,000 U.S. casualties and tens of thousands of Afghan civilian deaths, and with a dramatic increase in violent incidents over the past year, the war should not be ignored.

To counter the irresolution and indifference, a band of filmmakers decided to bring the war back into the popular consciousness, with a new work, Far From Afghanistan. The omnibus film was organized by John Gianvito, whose also self-produced the compelling 2001 feature The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein. It was produced by Steve Holmgren (Putty Hill), and features the work of Jon Jost (Last Chants for a Slow Dance, Swimming in Nebraska) Minda Martin (Free Land), Travis Wilkerson (An Injury to One), and Soon Mi Yoo (Dangerous Supplement).

If the title sounds familiar, it was inspired by and pays tribute to another collective anti-war film, Far from Vietnam (1967), which brought together New Wave film innovators including: Jean-Luc Godard, Agnes Varda, Chris Marker, and Alain Resnais. The rule-breaking, socially progressive legacy of those ’60s filmmakers inspired not just the production but also the distribution of the Afghanistan film.

Faced with the reality that they could not miss an important marker of America’s longest war, its tenth anniversary this week, the Far from Afghanistan team decided to bypass conventional steps to get their film seen, such as festival submissions, funding requirements, and complicated distribution deals. They wanted to start reaching people in the most timely and effective way possible–streaming online. After an intense five-month period of planning and production, Gianvito and company unveiled their work on Thursday to commemorate the anniversary of the war.

A current version of the project, Far from Afghanistan: October Edition is now available viaFandor, which is streaming the film for free through October 12th.

Read the entire article.

Published on 23 September 2011

I want to bang the drum a bit for Far From Afghanistan, a project inspired by the 1967 omnibus film, Far From Vietnam. The roster of contributing filmmakers is impressive to say the least: John Gianvito (Profit motive and the whispering wind),  Written by David Hudson

Published on 23 September 2011

I want to bang the drum a bit for Far From Afghanistan, a project inspired by the 1967 omnibus film, Far From Vietnam. The roster of contributing filmmakers is impressive to say the least: John Gianvito (Profit motive and the whispering wind), Jon Jost (All The Vermeers in New York), Minda Martin(Free Land), Travis Wilkerson (Distinguished Flying Cross) and Soon-Mi Yoo(Dangerous Supplement). You can read about each of their new films here, but overall, the goal is “to contribute to the international effort to redirect US policy away from military and political intervention toward true humanitarian and developmental care-giving.” If that strikes a chord, you might consider chipping in to the Kickstarter campaign. For one week, starting on October 6, you can watch the works-in-progress.

Read the full article.

Coordinated Premiere of Far From Afghanistan: The October Edition October 6-12, 2011

Fandor is proud to present Far From Afghanistan: The October Edition, an omnibus film that aims to bring one of the longest wars in American history back into the [...]]]> Fandor.com Special Announcement

Coordinated Premiere of Far From Afghanistan: The October Edition October 6-12, 2011

Far From Afghanistan:
The October Edition

Fandor is proud to present Far From Afghanistan: The October Edition, an omnibus film that aims to bring one of the longest wars in American history back into the popular consciousness. For one week only, Fandor will show a collection of works by several of the most innovative filmmakers working today. We’re proud to host the film in conjunction with a series of online and in-person events across the globe to mark the ten-year anniversary of the start of the War in Afghanistan on October 6th.

How to Watch
Check back here starting Thursday, October 6 for instructions on where to watch. Get a 7-day free pass now for free access to the film (and to Fandor’s entire film library). We’ll also send you a reminder when the event starts. Click the “Log in with Facebook” on the left to get your free pass.

Drawing A Line in the Sand of History
Far From Afghanistan unites five of America’s most acclaimed and socially conscious filmmakers working today:John Gianvito (Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind), Jon Jost (All the Vermeers in New York),Minda Martin (Free Land), Soon-Mi Yoo (Dangerous Supplement) and Travis Wilkerson (An Injury to One). The fast-approaching date of the war’s ten-year anniversary lit a fire under the FFA team. Faced with the reality that they could not miss this important marker, these filmmakers undertook a whirlwind production process, bypassing conventional steps to distribution. Far From Afghanistan: The October Edition provides the opportunity for viewers to watch a unique work in progress, which will only be available through October 12th.

Read the entire article.

“Though I don’t have any children,” says John Gianvito, “I imagined a child someday saying to me, ‘You regard yourself as a political filmmaker, did you do anything during [...]]]> Filmmaker Magazine

“Though I don’t have any children,” says John Gianvito, “I imagined a child someday saying to me, ‘You regard yourself as a political filmmaker, did you do anything during the longest war in U.S. history?’”

Gianvito, the Boston-based director of the acclaimed feature The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein, recalls this thought coming to him earlier this year as the 10th anniversary of the U.S. war in Afghanistan approached. On Thursday, October 6, in honor of that day of infamy, Gianvito and a team of filmmakers will unveil an ambitious omnibus project to raise awareness about the enduring conflict.

Still a work in progress, Far From Afghanistan: The October Edition (pictured) will premiere on-line for one-week only to coincide with the anniversary, both to help accelerate political resistance to the war as well as help boost funds for the project’s Kickstarter campaign. As of September 26, the project was far short of its $25,000 goal, raising only about $5,300.

Gianvito conceived of the project earlier this year, galvanized by several factors: a 2010 Pew Research Study which stated only 4% of U.S. media made any reference to the war, despite the fact that it was the war’s deadliest year and a talk he attended in March with female Afghan activist and legislator Malalai Joya and Noam Chomsky. “Listening to Joya’s impassioned and cogent assessment of the situation was the last step in making manifest that I had to do something,” he says.

At the time, Gianvito had been deeply ensconced in his four years-in-the-making Vapor Trail, a large-scale documentary about the legacy of the U.S presence in the Philippines. However, he says, “my conscience was prodding me more and more.” He realized he would have a tough time making an October deadline, and came up with the idea of an omnibus project as “a way to create something more than a short film and to build a stronger base of solidarity around the issue,” he explains.

Inspired by the 1967 French documentary Far From Vietnam, which includes nonfiction entries from Jean-Luc Godard, Agnes Varda, Alain Resnais, and Chris Marker, among others, Gianvito compiled a list of about 25 U.S. filmmakers, because as U.S. citizens, he says, “We bore the lion’s share of the responsibility.”

Read the full article

This is a specially-designed prologue from Rob Todd and Pacho Velez available for viewing as part of Far From Afghanistan: The October Edition, only.  It aims to offer a brief but important glimpse of the emotional and material reality of life, and death, over the past [...]]]>

10 Years and Counting

This is a specially-designed prologue from Rob Todd and Pacho Velez available for viewing as part of Far From Afghanistan: The October Edition, only.  It aims to offer a brief but important glimpse of the emotional and material reality of life, and death, over the past decade in Afghanistan. Three-quarters of the images are drawn from imagery gathered by the “Afghan Voices” group and will be seen more expansively within the final version of Far From Afghanistan. More about Afghan Voices.

Bios

Robert Todd
In the past twelve years he has produced a large body of short-to-medium format films that have been exhibited internationally at a wide variety of venues and festivals including the Media City Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Le Rencontres Internationale, Black Maria Film Festival, Nouveau Cinema in Montreal, Cinematheque Ontario, the Harvard Film Archive, Pacific Film Archive, the Paris Biennial, Slamdance Film Festival, and others. His films have won numerous festival prizes, grants, and artist’s awards. He has taught film production at Boston College, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Art Institute of Boston, University of Massachusetts, and the Boston Film and Video Foundation. He has also worked as editor, sound designer/editor, post-supervisor or music producer on various award-winning broadcast and theatrically-released media programs.

Pacho Velez
Pacho Velez is a documentary filmmaker and teacher. He is interested in personal stories that help to illuminate greater political issues. He is proud to have worked for the Service Employees International Union, for whom he co-directed a documentary about service workers at Harvard. His films have screened at Silverdocs, the RIFF, and the Telluride Indiefest. His films have won the Best Documentary prize at the Ivy Film Festival in 2003 and 2004, as well as a Prize for Humanitarian Filmmaking from the New England Film Festival. In 2006, the US Department of Education awarded him a Javits Fellowship. In the fall of 2010, he began teaching filmmaking at Harvard University.

Jon Jost’s completely poetic evocation of the circumstances instigating America’s attack on Afghanistan, its methods, and of the deeply seated cultural origins of Western culture’s tendency towards warring. As an (ironic) counter-point it uses President Eisenhower’s Fare- well Speech (1961) and an earlier speech (1953) “Cross of Iron” as [...]]]> Empire’s Cross

Jon Jost’s completely poetic evocation of the circumstances instigating America’s attack on Afghanistan, its methods, and of the deeply seated cultural origins of Western culture’s tendency towards warring. As an (ironic) counter-point it uses President Eisenhower’s Fare- well Speech (1961) and an earlier speech (1953) “Cross of Iron” as a foil. Ironic, as Eisenhower was a much glorified general and a Republican in politics; today he would be deemed a radical leftist for his words in those speeches.

Bio

Born in Chicago to a military family, he grew up in Georgia, Kansas, Japan, Italy, Germany and Virginia. He began making films in January 1963 after being expelled from college. In 1965 he was imprisoned by US authorities for 2 years 3 months for refusal to cooperate with the Selective Service system. Self-taught as a filmmaker, he made his first full-length film in 1974, and has since that time focused on a wide range of American issues in his films. Since 1996 he has worked almost exclusively in digital video, completing twelve features and many short films. Among Jost’s most recognized works include, “Speaking Directly: Some American Notes” (1973-75), “Bell Diamond” (1986), “All The Vermeers in New York” (1990), and “The Bed You Sleep In” (1993) among others.

Minda Martin’s experimental narrative film short about a drone pilot in Palmdale, California who learns about the impact of his role in the war in Afghanistan from on-the-ground soldiers.

“I was compelled to volunteer my time to contribute a film that could give Americans a [...]]]> The Long Distance Operator

Minda Martin’s experimental narrative film short about a drone pilot in Palmdale, California who learns about the impact of his role in the war in Afghanistan from on-the-ground soldiers.

“I was compelled to volunteer my time to contribute a film that could give Americans a way of thinking about their own distance from the war in Afghanistan. The idea for the story came from US Army war veteran, Ethan McCord, who testified about the impact of an aerial strike that killed several innocent civilians in Baghdad. Placing McCord’s testimony in the context of the pilot’s screens (available on Wikileaks), I came to see parallels with how Americans have been experiencing this war. I explored these feelings with the actors, all of whom are war veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Bio

Minda Martin is a critically acclaimed, award-winning director, editor, and producer of documentary and narrative films that explore the underpinnings and disparities of social class in America. Her collection of documentary and narrative shorts titled Love, Loss, & Longing (2007) and two feature documentaries AKA Kathe (2000,Video, 55min) and most recently, Free Land (2009,Film/Video, 63min) have been critically praised by Variety, New York Times, LA Weekly, CBC, and others. Minda received her Bachelors of Arts degree from University of Arizona in creative writing, classics, and media arts. She then received her Masters of Fine Arts degree from California Institute of the Arts in film and video production. She is currently an Associate Professor in the department of Visual and Performing Arts at California State University of San Marcos.

Fragments of Dissolution is a poetic, anguished cry from the heart of a rotting empire. Four women describe their own unique hells. Children, brothers, and friends burned alive while simply trying not to freeze. Husbands and sons deployed over and over, who kill themselves rather than fighting again. [...]]]> Fragments of Dissolution

Fragments of Dissolution is a poetic, anguished cry from the heart of a rotting empire. Four women describe their own unique hells. Children, brothers, and friends burned alive while simply trying not to freeze. Husbands and sons deployed over and over, who kill themselves rather than fighting again. From Ft. Lewis to Detroit, the empire is devouring its own intestines.

Bio

A chance meeting in Havana with legendary Cuban film propagandist Santiago Alvarez changed the course of Travis Wilkerson’s life. He now makes films in the tradition of the “third cinema,” wedding politics to form in an indivisible manner. His best-known work is an agit-prop essay on the lynching of Wobbly Frank Little called “An Injury to One.” His other films include “Accelerated Underdevelopment” (on the filmmaker Santiago Alvarez), “Who Killed Cock Robin?”, and the National Archive series. In 2007 he presented the first ever performance art at the Sundance Film Festival with “Proving Ground,” a live multi-media rumination on the notion of technological prowess outstripping our moral and ethical development. His work has screened at scores of festivals worldwide, including Sundance, Toronto, Rotter- dam, Marseille, Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival, Hot Docs, Vienna International Film Festival and Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. His latest film, “Distinguished Flying Cross” had its world premiere in April at the Cinéma du Réel Film Festival where it received the International Prize.