Our thoughts and prayers are with AUAF
We are heartbroken to hear of last Wednesday's attack on the American University of Afghanistan campus. A student, going to school on a scholarship, lost his life on his second day at the university. Hundreds others were terrorized by two gunmen and an explosion--a nine-hour siege that took lives of at least 16 people, including eight students and two professors.
Photo attributed to the attack on American University of Afghanistan in Kabul pic.twitter.com/EVunzOpyd3
— KAZEMI, Mustafa (@CombatJourno) August 24, 2016
Located in the capital, American University of Afghanistan has been a safe haven for the best and brightest of the nation, remaining intact amid frequent attacks in Kabul; that is, until earlier this month, when two professors, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped. Their location is still unknown. Experts say AUAF has been a target for attacks because of its association with foreigners. The Saving Mes Aynak team had a chance to indirectly interact with the student body of American University of Afghanistan when we had a screening on campus last April. In fact, AUAF was the first university in Afghanistan to invite Saving Mes Aynak to screen on campus.
Our thoughts and prayers are with AUAF. We are moved by the bravery and resilience of the community of AUAF and pledge to continue our work on Afghanistan.
Saving Mes Aynak invited to International Festival of Archaeological Film
Saving Mes Aynak is going to France again for a biannual festival of archaeology films in Bordeaux on October 26th through 29th. ICRONOS - International Festival of Archaeological Film - is praised as "a stable fixture of the European archaeology film festival circuit, creating a valuable venue for producers specializing in this genre" by the Archaeology Chanel. We are excited to screen the film to a community of archaeology enthusiasts from all over Europe!
Saving Mes Aynak on Korean TV next week!
Saving Mes Aynak will hit Korean TV through August! Buddhist True Network (BTN), a premier Buddhist channel of Korea, has invited Saving Mes Aynak to air over 8 times, both on air and online. Through this broadcast, we hope to connect with Korean audience who, with the country's long history with Buddhism, understand the importance of cultural heritage sites.
Click the image to go to the promo video
Saving Mes Aynak wins big in Italy!
Saving Mes Aynak takes home the top prize for best international documentary at the Life After Oil Film Festival in Sardinia, Italy! This is a huge honor from a panel of juries spanning Italian filmmakers, journalists, academics, and activists. On top of the prize, Life After Oil was a wonderful opportunity to engage with international audience in an incredible outdoor venue. Thank you!
THIS SUMMER: Saving Mes Aynak at the Art Institute of Chicago!
Saving Mes Aynak comes back to Chicago for a screening at the Art Institute of Chicago! Director Brent E. Huffman will be in attendance for the Q&A at the Price Auditorium. See you there!
Summer Updates from Saving Mes Aynak Team!
Al Jazeera's promo for Saving Mes Aynak. Click image to view.
An updated version of Saving Mes Aynak hit the air on Al Jazeera English on June 29th and streamed online for free on Al Jazeera's website for a limited time (outside the US). Thank you so much for all who watched and shared this important film.
Viewers expressed their excitement and emotional responses to the broadcast on social media, showing solidarity as always:
#SavingMesAynak an incredibly powerful, moving documentary on the fight to save Afghan culture - a must watch!! pic.twitter.com/uD35aBIuqn
— Annis Turner (@anniskturner) June 29, 2016
The Buddhas Of Mes Aynak: It's Time To Save Greatest Treasures Of Afghanistan - https://t.co/bsjXafYcXb https://t.co/DNq4BBfh8j
— AlvaroDBraga (@alisbuna) June 30, 2016
@narendramodi Pls consider sending Indian ASI team and/or professors, students of archaeological studies 2 this site https://t.co/Jyg47q7zj5
— Trilochana (@Trilochana888) July 1, 2016
Today is the rebroadcast of updated version...this is worthy of appointment viewing.
— Mark LaMet (@LaMetTVNews) June 29, 2016
Hoping to see it myself! https://t.co/fTm8qCt5aF
@AJEnglish @SavingMesAynak @AJWitness It shouldn't be on the archeologists shoulders. We have all failed the Afghan people.
— Hans van Dijk (@hansvandijk1603) June 30, 2016
@AJWitness @SavingMesAynak @AJEnglish I'm watching this and my heart is breaking. Stories and history gone, forever
— Lady Lovely Lumps (@Chemu18Cheryl) June 30, 2016
Thank you again for all those who made this successful re-broadcast possible! If you are outside U.S., you can stream Saving Mes Aynak online via VHX (still free for people in Afghanistan)! We now have French, Dutch, German, Italian, and Japanese subtitles available for the VHX streaming service. Impassioned viewers of Saving Mes Aynak volunteered to translate the film, making it possible for us to share the film with even wider range of audiences.
Interested in translating the film into a new language? Please visit here.
If you are in the U.S., we are excited to announce that home DVDs of Saving Mes Aynak will be released in November! Please stay tuned - you can purchase the DVDs both websites of Saving Mes Aynak and Kartemquin Films.
Saving Mes Aynak continues to travel the world this summer! We have screenings being organized by audience members in Luxembourg and Kabul, Afghanistan. Spring 2016 was one of the busiest period for Mes Aynak, spanning Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sweden, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, India, Hong Kong, France, Canada, and in the U.S., Seattle, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, and Santa Cruz.
Now Saving Mes Aynak will make its way to the Art Institute of Chicago, a premier museum in the U.S., Italy, Singapore, France, Greece, Lebanon, and Iran. We are also honored to be invited for an encore screening with the San Francisco Green Film Festival this October at the San Francisco Public Library! Furthermore, Saving Mes Aynak will be receiving the prestigious Green Spark Award at American Conservation Film Festival happening the 3rd and 4th weekend of October in Virginia.
Saving Mes Aynak will hit Los Angeles, New York, and Washington DC later this year through the China Onscreen Biennial (COB), a showcase of Chinese film and media arts for American audiences. Saving Mes Aynak will be a part of COB's program called Dunhuang Projected, "named after the eponymous town in the Gobi Desert in northwestern China that was an important nexus of the Silk Road from 400-1400 CE, and the gateway for Buddhism from India into China. The town’s complex of caves hold the largest extant collection of Buddhist art in the world, and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site," according to the organizers.
Thanks to the initiatives of students, professors, and museum professionals, we continue to travel colleges and museums across the country! Director Brent E. Huffman will be in attendance for the post-screening Q&A at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Missouri. McDaniel College will host Saving Mes Aynak for the World Wise Documentary series.
Interested in hosting a screening of Saving Mes Aynak? Contact us.
Saving Mes Aynak is the winner of Green Spark Award at American Conservation Film Festival and the 37th Telly Awards & People's Choice Award.
The American Conservation Film Festival committee chose two winners of the Green Spark Award out of nearly 300 films submitted this year, citing Saving Mes Aynak as "the most deserving of the Green Spark Award for drawing attention to a conservation hero." We are honored for this recognition and excited that Brent will be receiving the award in person in October!
A testimony of continued support from the audience: Saving Mes Aynak won the 37th People's Choice Telly Award! Thank you so much for all who voted for the People's Choice awards. We could not have done it without you.
An illustration created by National Geographic Magazine depicting what Mes Aynak may have looked like 2,000 years ago.
The fate of Mes Aynak is more uncertain than ever. Rana Think Tank, an Afghan group of political and economic analysts, recently urged MCC to re-commence mining, as MCC allegedly attempts to decline the payment of premium to the government, insisting the government to hand over the entire Mes Aynak area. All excavation efforts in Mes Aynak seem to have slowed down throughout this year, with just another devastating suicide attack in Kabul debilitating the well-being of Afghan citizens. Moreover, the World Bank has threatened to end funding at Mes Aynak at some point this summer.
Nonetheless, we continue to do our work to raise awareness and send necessary help to the archaeologists in Mes Aynak. It's you, the audience, can make a difference.
Together we MUST SAVE MES AYNAK in 2016!
http://www.savingmesaynak.com/get-involved/
Worldwide broadcast of Saving Mes Aynak in June!
Al Jazeera English will re-broadcast Saving Mes Aynak worldwide through The Witness programme this June!
Save the date for June 29th for one of many worldwide broadcasts to come. For more information, check out director Brent E. Huffman's brief introduction to Saving Mes Aynak on Al Jazeera English here.
Vote Saving Mes Aynak for Telly Awards!
Saving Mes Aynak is running for the 37th Annual Telly Awards and we need your help! The Telly Awards "honors the very best film & video productions, groundbreaking online video content, and outstanding local, regional, & cable tv commercials and programs."
Please rate Saving Mes Aynak here to help us in the running for People's Choice Award. The exposure through this award will help spread awareness of the issue at hand in Mes Aynak.
Sold out screening in Hong Kong, TV broadcast in Japan and more!
We had a sold-out screening in Hong Kong with Buddhistdoor and Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hong Kong - a perfect culmination of April for Saving Mes Aynak!
The 200-plus-seat Rayson Huang Theatre was packed with enthusiastic audience, who attended Skype Q&A with the director, Brent E. Huffman.
Saving Mes Aynak was also featured on NHK, a premier broadcasting station in Japan. In celebration of Buddha Day on May 1st, NHK highlighted director Huffman's work with Saving Mes Aynak.
If you are interested in organizing local screenings or broadcasts through the month of May in celebration of the Buddha Day, please contact us.
Saving Mes Aynak will be re-broadcast worldwide on Al Jazeera English in June. Stay tuned!
Saving Mes Aynak wins big in Bulgaria and CIFF!
We are delighted to announce that Saving Mes Aynak is the winner of the Silver Plaque of the 2016 Chicago International Film Festival Television Awards. The Award distinguishes Saving Mes Aynak's achievements in addressing the arts and humanities in documentary filmmaking. Award ceremony is on April 20. Get a full list of this year's honorees here.
Saving Mes Aynak also won the Special Jury Mention in Master of Art Film Festival in Bulgaria! Master of Art is the first international Film Festival on the Balkans for art documentaries. We are grateful for these honors and excited for upcoming screenings in Hong Kong, Greece, India, and more!
Sold Out Screening at San Francisco Green Film Fest - more updates!
Saving Mes Ayank had a sold out screening at the San Franscisco Green Film Festival this past Saturday! Thank you to everyone that joined the meaningful occasion. The composer of the film, Homayoun Sahki, received warm welcome from the crowd along with the director, Brent E. Huffman.
The line stretched around the block for #MesAynak! Thank you #SanFrancisco! pic.twitter.com/YGCbEYCFbY
— Saving Mes Aynak (@SavingMesAynak) April 20, 2016
Composer Homayoun Sahki, director Brent Huffman, and CEO & Founder of the Festival, Rachel Caplan. Photo by Keith Blackey - for more photos from the festival, please visit Keith's photo album here.
The following Tuesday, however, troubling news came from Kabul: Taliban assault that left at least 28 dead, over 320 injured.
Source: Associated Press
From what director Huffman was able to gather, none of the archaeologists and those involved in the film is reported to have been impacted by this assault. There is now only a skeleton crew working in Mes Aynak. There are still reports and rumors of looting. The Minister of Mines has been fired due to corruption in the mining industry. The seat currently remains empty - a source of instability over the archaeological efforts in Mes Aynak.
We appreciate all your support and welcome any suggestions for how we can further galvanize the global community to help Mes Aynak receive proper preservation efforts. Please contact us here to request screenings in your area. We appreciate you!
Saving Mes Aynak at UC Santa Cruz!
Saving Mes Aynak will be screening at the Department of History of Art & Visual Culture of UC Santa Cruz on April 15, Friday. Screening is free. Hope to see you there!
Latest on Archaeologists of Mes Aynak!
We are excited to hear from archaeologists in Mes Aynak as they purchase necessary equipment and furniture for their work. Over the years the "Saving Mes Aynak" campaign has been able to donate over $10,000 for the archaeologists risking their lives to excavate at Mes Aynak. As announced before, Qadir Temori, the head archaeologist of Mes Aynak, is now the director of Afghan Institute of Culture and you can his familiar face below with the new office furniture, computer, generator, and other supplies. We partnered with Kabul-based NGO Afghans4Tomorrow to coordinate the delivery of these crowd-sourced funds. We all appreciate your contribution!
We are so happy to be able to help these heroes of Afghanistan continue to do their essential work to save the threatened cultural heritage of Afghanistan!
Here is a direct link to support their important work:
http://www.savingmesaynak.com/donate/
Screenings in Afghanistan and Hong Kong in April!
Saving Mes Aynak is screening at the American University of Afghanistan on April 3rd. We are delighted to have this chance to hear responses from the Afghan community.
On April 23rd, the Buddhistdoor and Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hong Kong will screen Saving Mes Aynak. Brent will attend and lead post-screening discussion via Skype.
April is an exciting month for Saving Mes Aynak. Thank you for your support!
Saving mes aynak Selected to Master of Art Film Festival in Bulgaria and more!
We are excited to announce that Saving Mes Aynak will be screening at the Master of Art Film Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria. Master of Art is the first international Film Festival on the Balkans for art documentaries.
Saving Mes Aynak will also be in Sweden in April 20 at the National Museum of World Culture in Göteborg alongside an exhibition highlighting contemporary Afghan artists.
Through October 17 and 23, Saving Mes Aynak will participate in the 10th International Meeting of Archaeological Films (AGON).
Saving Mes Aynak continues to run on European TV. The film was featured on French TV on Histoire (HD1) on March 29. KLASIK TV in Croatia will air Saving Mes Ayank later in 2016 as well.
We are grateful for the film's continued successful run in Europe. This is all thanks to your support!
SMA Is an Official Selection of the San Francisco Green Film Festival
We are incredibly proud to announce that Saving Mes Aynak is an official selection of the 2016 San Francisco Green Film Festival! The SFGFF is one of the preeminent environmental film festivals in the US...
We are proud to announce that Saving Mes Aynak is officially a selection of the 2016 San Francisco Green Film Festival! The SFGFF is one of the preeminent environmental film festivals in the US, and their mission — to spark green ideas & actions, and create dialogue around protecting our planet — is one that we whole-heartedly support.
This year's festival will run from April 14th - 20th at venues all across the Golden Gate City. We don't know our exact screening date yet, but as soon as we find out we will let you know. We hope you will be able to join us.
Click here to learn more about the San Francisco Green Film Festival
Join Us April 20 at the National Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden
On April 20, 2016, Saving Mes Aynak will screen at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden!
On April 20, 2016, Saving Mes Aynak will screen at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden, in conjunction with Afghan Tales, a new exhibit on contemporary Afghan photographers!
The Museum of World Culture — which is one of the most prestigious museums in Sweden — aims to, "function as a platform for dialogues and reflections, where many different voices can be heard and controversial and contentious topics discussed - a place where people can feel at home and reach across borders."
We couldn't be more excited about collaborating with this wonderful museum to screen the film, and we hope you will be able to join us. For more information, please visit the museum's (excellent) website, which has an option to view the pages in English.
Two Exciting International Screenings This Week!
Saving Mes Aynak will be screening in Pakistan and Canada this week.
Saving Mes Aynak will be screening in Pakistan and Canada this week.
At the prestigious Festival International du Film sur l'Art in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, Saving Mes Aynak will screen twice on the 11th and 18th. If you are in Canada, now is your time to purchase tickets!
The Center for Media & Design at Habib University in Karachi, Pakistan, has invited Saving Mes Aynak for its Traveling Film South Asia event, running March 11th through 12th. The Pakistani and international students, faculty, and special guests at this event will discuss documenting and preserving the heritage and histories of diverse religious communities in the Middle East and South Asia. If you are in Pakistan, take a look at the programming of this event here and consider participating. Director Brent E. Huffman will be in Pakistan in March, so stay tuned for more updates from Pakistan!
February 20: Screening + Director Q&A at the Seattle Art Museum!
Saving Mes Aynak will screen Saturday, February 20, 2016 at the Gardner Center for Asian Art and Ideas as a part of their Sites of Meaning: Cultural Heritage Preservation educational series!
Saving Mes Aynak will screen Saturday, February 20, 2016 at the Gardner Center for Asian Art and Ideas as a part of their Sites of Meaning: Cultural Heritage Preservation educational series! Director Brent E. Huffman will be in attendance, and will participate in a Q&A discussion following the film screening.
The event kicks off at 9:30am (PT) at the Emma Baillargeon Stimson Auditorium. Tickets are $10 for non-museum members, and $5 for SAM members. The Gardner Center is a special initiative of the Asian Art Museum and Seattle Art Museum, and "seeks to explore the vast diversity of Asia and its presence in the world."
Our heartfelt thanks to Sarah Loudon, Director of the GCAAI, for the opportunity to screen Saving Mes Aynak for the people of Seattle. We hope you will be able to join us!
Click Here to Learn More
New Exhibit in prague Features Artifacts From Mes Aynak
The famed Náprstek Museum in Prague, Czech Republic has a new exhibit on the Buddhist history of Afghanistan, featuring artifacts borrowed from the National Museum in Kabul.
The famed Náprstek Museum in Prague, Czech Republic has a new exhibit on the Buddhist history of Afghanistan, featuring artifacts borrowed from the National Museum in Kabul. The exhibit includes many pieces, like the above gold-gilded Buddha, from Mes Aynak.
A silver bowl from Mes Aynak, dated between the 3rd and 6th century AD
If you are able, we urge you to visit the exhibit. While we worked hard to show the beauty of Mes Aynak in Saving Mes Aynak, it's another thing entirely to see that beauty in person.
The exhibit, titled "Afghánistán – zachráněné poklady buddhismu" will go from February 5, 2016 - April 30, 2016. If you're fluent in Czech, check out this video below that the Náprstek Museum put together for this special event. In anticipation of the exhibit, Saving Mes Aynak also screened at the museum on December 15.