There are more that 35 human rights film festivals around the world, however none of them are in the Central Asia and the war zone part of  Middle East countries, which are gravely affected by human rights dilemmas. There was a human rights film festival in Bahrain but the recent revolutions in that country and other Arab nations brought it to a grinding halt.  All of these inspired the organizers and founders Malek Shafi’I, Diana Saqeb and Hassan Zakizadeh in 2011 to join creative forces and launch Afghanistan International Human Rights Film Festival for the first time in Kabul and other provinces.

 

The 1st Edition of AHRFF was launched on October 2011 for the first time with a historical Opening ceremony at the French Institute for Afghanistan (IFA) featuring the Afghan premiere of Iranian director Jaffar Panahi’ short film "The Accordion" (2010), a story that follows two young street musicians, who have their accordion stolen from them. A keen supporter of opposition movements, Panahi was arrested in March 2010 and sentenced to six years of imprisonment along with Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof in December 2010. The two filmmakers were also banned from shooting movies and writing scripts for twenty years, as well as leaving the country or getting in contact with local or international media. The films were part of a long feature project supported by the UN, that gathered seven international directors around Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thoughts, conscience and religion”.

 

More than 63 movies out of more than 200 entries of the best human rights films from 24 countries (USA, France, India, Egypt, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Sweden, Canada, Liberia and the UK) including 32 films from Afghanistan were selected and screened. Seven of the 32 Afghan films were directed by Afghan women filmmakers.  

 

 The festival closed on October 6 with another Afghan premiere of "Light in the Cave", a moving film by Sayed Suleiman Amanzad and his own account of his survival against Taliban brutality in Bamyan in 1999. He was four years-old when Taliban over ran his village and starts killing people.

The documentary "Sergio", a tribute to the visionary work of the dashing 55 year-old Brazilian UN diplomat and humanitarian of the highest order killed in Iraq, considered by some a cross between James Bond and Bobby Kennedy also premiered in Afghanistan as part of the non-competitive selection. 

 

In 2013, the 2nd Edition of AHRFF was held in Kabul and Bamyan and 70 films out of 300 entries from 18 countries were selected and screened. During editions, a selection committee and international jury was involved with the festival. Workshops and seminars to filmmakers were also offered by a talented team of well-known filmmakers from different countries to share their knowledge, expertise and skills with the young generation of Afghan filmmakers. 

 

The 3rd Edition of AHRFF will be launch in December 2015 to mark Human Rights Day. Due to the security situation in Afghanistan, we had to decrease the number of movies from 70 to 45 films, but workshops, film sessions, seminars for students will be offered. 

 

Movies that Matters, the US Embassy in Afghanistan, the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) were among the main sponsors and partners of the first and second edition.