Reel Afghanistan is an initiative of Education Through Art, which aims to create an educational and artistic dialogue between Afghanistan and the UK. It took place in Edinburgh from 21st - 28th February 2008.
The aim of the festival was to build awareness of issues surrounding Afghanistan in the UK, as well as provide an outlet for Afghan cinema and culture events.
Through the festival, we celebrated Afghan culture and arts, as well as supporting their artists through exhibiting their work. We also built contacts with other individuals and organisations involved in artistic projects related to Afghanistan, as well as network and create partnerships from our base in the UK.
Alongside the film festival, we organised photography exhibitions and several music concerts of Afghan music.
The organisations involved in organising the event were:
- Firefly International: http://www.fireflyinternational.org/
- Afghan Schools Trust: www.afghanschools.org
- Edinburgh University Settlement: http://www.sett.ed.ac.uk/
This was the first Festival of Afghan Cinema and Culture in the UK. We aim for this to become an annual event, and for the festival to tour the world.
The festival is being run as a non-profit event, one of the central aims is to fundraise for small-scale charities in Afghanistan.
To see a selection of the press coverage for Reel Afghanistan 2008 please follow this link:
Reel Afghanistan Press Coverage
