AFTER WAR, BEFORE PEACE - IN SEARCHING OF DEMOCRACY IN CENTRAL AFGHANISTAN
Switzerland, 2008, 34 min
Christof Thurnherr
29.01.2010 18:45
Lal, a remote bazaar surrounded by the high mountains of the Western Hindu Kush in Central Afghanistan, struggles to find peace after more than 30 years of war. Everyday life in these harsch wintery surroundings don't seem to leave much space to deal with the new situation. Former Mujaheddin Commanders, religious leaders and newly elected state officials each have their respective views of this new system called 'democracy'. In this film these different actors tell us about their past, explain their respective views on the democratic changes and reveal their individual expectations for the future.
Language of dialogues: Farsi, English
Language of subtitles: English
In the middle of the 20th century a numerous group of Moravian reformed evangelicals from the surroundings of Kloubouky u Brna came to the area of Serbien Banat in Vojvodina. One-and-half-century-lasting existence of the reformed charge brought to its members much suffering borne by a process of big history stretching up to the presence. At the beginning of the 21st century the community of Czech speaking reformed evangelicals is dwelling at the verge of determination as the source of belief has been abandoned by the younger generation due to migration and impacts of modern era. The documentary focuses on historical turning points and fates of several charge members. In the foreground, inner latent godlines of the remaining descendants of the Moravian transmigrants appears which represents collective memory and symbolical universum – sources of preserved ethnicity. Faith, fate, presence as experienced past, experienced past as a garvestone.
The Klamath River of Oregon and California is one of the most important salmon runs in the United States. While diminished over the past 100 years, it still supports an abudance of life and diverse economies struggling over its future course. This is a film about the Indian tribes of the river ecosystem – what the Klamath means to them and how they draw on traditional and modern resources to restore its strenght, beauty and balance. The film focuses on the Klamath River and the Indian tribes of the lower basin – the Yurok, Hoopa and Karuk. Yet this story has implications for any number of river ecosystems and indigenous peoples around the world. Through the Indian tribes of the Lower Klamath, the film reminds us how the health of a people and the health of its lands are integrally linked.