Human Rights Watch International Film Festival - New York 2002

Afghanistan Year 1380
Directed by Alberto Vendemmiati and Fabrizio Lazzaretti
Produced in Afghanistan/Italy, 2002
Running Time: 74m
Format: Video
Genre: Documentary
Distributor: Karousel Films
Web site: www.karousel.org

Following the success of Jung: In the Land of the Mujhaheddin (featured in the 2001 HRWIFF and winner of the Nestor Almendros Award), filmmakers Lazzaretti and Vendemmiati returned to Afghanistan a week after 9/11 to follow the continuing challenges for surgeon Gino Strada and medical coordinator Kate Rowlands from the NGO Emergency. Having set up a hospital in Kabul the previous spring, they saw it shut down by the Taliban. On October 7th, they decided to reopen the hospital with the city under heavy attack. The filmmakers show life from the perspective of the Afghan people during this extraordinary time, including the reconciliation among ethnic groups, the role of international forces and the treatment of Taliban prisoners of war in Northern Alliance jails. A P.O.V. broadcast premiere on PBS, Fall 2002 (check local listings).

Preceded by: Voice of the Prophet

Return to:

New York Schedule

Find out more about:

HRW's work on Arms and their effects

HRW's work in Afghanistan

Commentary on the aftermath of 9/11

P.O.V. is celebrating 15 years in 2002. Since 1988 P.O.V. has worked to bring the best of independent point-of-view documentaries to a national audience. The first series on television to feature the work of America's most innovative documentary filmmakers, P.O.V. has gone on to pioneer the art of presentation and outreach using independent media to build new communities in conversation about today's most pressing social issues.