Link TV editor Kyung Lee reports from the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea. Currently the biggest film festival in Asia, PIFF showcases new talents and films from the Asian countries. This blog offers rare interviews with Asian directors who discuss their filmmaking experiences in their native countries.
The current situation of Afghanistan is hard for outsiders to grasp. Almost every day we hear the news of heightened insurgency in the country, but little beyond that. In this extremely uncertain situation, there is a filmmaker who has managed to make films that reflect the reality of Afghanistan.
Siddiq Barmak is currently one of only a few filmmakers in Afghanistan who is able to make feature films in his native country. His first feature film, "Osama", portrays a young girl who is forced to don a disguise as a boy in order to support her mother in the Taliban era. The film won a Golden Globe Award, and made a great demonstration of Afghanistan's film heritage and its possible future to the world.
Siddiq, who was born in Afghanistan and studied film in Moscow, was exiled to Pakistan during the Taliban regime from 1996 to 2002. The current reemergence of the insurgency is a reminder for him that another dark time may be ahead. He was at the Pusan International Film Festival this year to present his second feature film "Opium War" which is, according to the director, "an exact reflection of the situation." I was able to catch the director and asked a few questions on the current state in Afghanistan.
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