Monika’s Pensieve

Reviewing every single film I watch is a bit impractical time-wise (and this has been on my mind for a long time now despite appearances ;-P). The reason I keep doing it is that I like having a record of what I watched and how I felt about it.
I’ve finally decided that while I want [...]

This is a totally ancient draft…
Siddiq Barmak, without exaggerating too much, basically is Afghan cinema nowadays. Almost any Afghan film project intended for cinema is somehow associated with him. In the interview he talks about his award-winning film Osama (which I reviewed in April), but he also says a lot of stuff about the Taliban. [...]

{FILM DIARY}
Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi (USA, 2009)
Seen: Sunday, 18th October 2009 (cinema, WFF)
Runtime: 84′
Director: Ian Olds
Plot: (from imdb)
In 2007, the Taliban kidnapped 24-year-old Ajmal Naqshbandi and an Italian journalist. Naqshbandi was one of Afghanistan’s best “fixers” — someone hired by foreign journalists to facilitate, translate, and gain access for their stories.
Trailer

Impressions In Short
There [...]

The Day After Peace is a film that had a huge impact on me. Ever since I watched it (which was in October last year), I promised myself that I would somehow support the efforts of Peace Day.
The 21st of September is a very special day because it aims to be a day of global [...]

Sometimes, when I read about the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, I cannot help but think it is some weird Monty Python kind of reality, even if what I’m reading is very gruesome. Some of the rules and customs are just that absurd.
This is the first time I’ve had that feeling when watching a video, even [...]

Afghan elections will take place on the 20th of August, the Taliban are naturally already trying to use force to stop people from voting. I wonder if, ironically, their call to boycott elections isn’t why the two main contenders are both very moderate and eloquent people. If Taliban supporters were voting that might not be [...]

This is an article about those who fled the Swat valley, but from a very different angle:
There are about seven barbers in Rangmala, a camp for displaced people which is a couple of kilometres from Malakand Top.
Although they want to go back home once the Taliban have gone they are relishing the chance to work [...]

Here’s a very sad story of an Afghan actress and how she has had to go into hiding because of her profession. The article goes on to say:
Correspondents say there is marked sense of unease among many other working women in Kabul and other Afghan cities as the presence of the Taleban - who have [...]

{BOOK DIARY}
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
Language: English
What It’s About
It’s a novel about a boy (Aamir) who grows up in Afghanistan and moves to America with his father when the Soviet war breaks out. He has a very guilty secret that he has to eventually atone for by going back to Afghanistan during the Taliban [...]

Below is what I felt is a really interesting debate - a former prime minister of Afghanistan, a Pakistani security expert and an American journalist discuss the increase of troops. The guests are chosen very well in that they really represent completely different attitudes and points of view - each of them is coming from [...]