Film screening & discussion
AfghAnimation - The Afghan Animation Film Scene of the Last 20 Years

with Mohsen Hossaini, Lajaward Haqiqi and Mohammad Nasir Hashimi

Sun, 02.07.2023
4:00 PM - 18:00 ACUDkino

Unfortunately, Afghan animated films are currently a rarity. Productions from the country have entered the international film and festival scene too sparsely. Yet the animation film scene has developed a great creative diversity and artistic variety. The Goethe-Institut Kabul was significantly in this development; many workshops and training formats were conducted in cooperation with German partners and led to the establishment of a separate animation film section in the national film institute Afghan Film.  
After the Taliban took power again, artistic production came to a standstill, and many of the artists live in exile in Europe and other regions.  
 
In this event, three of the most active artists in this field will give an overview of the artistic and structural developments of the last 20 years and will also present a selection of short animated films.  

Host:

Abdul Azim Noor Bakhsh, born in Kabul in 1970, graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Kabul University in the Department of Radio and Television. He was then appointed as professor and worked in this position for 27 years. In 1992, he also worked as a journalist and director of television news programmes in the information department of the Afghan National Television and was a spokesperson and presenter of political programmes on Afghanistan's national radio and television since 1991. In addition to his work as a professor, Noor Bakhsh was appointed Head of the Publications, Information and Spokesperson Department of the Ministry of Higher Education in 2006 and held these responsibilities until 2014. Abdul Azim Noor Bakhsh is proficient in Dari, Pashto and English and is considered one of the best-known academics, speakers and journalists in Afghanistan. He has also written numerous academic papers and articles in the field of journalism and communication.

Guests:

© Mohsen Hossaini

Mohsen Hossaini is an internationally recognized artist and animator from Afghanistan. He holds a bachelor's degree in film and television directing from the College of Iran Television. After graduation, Hossaini worked for various television stations including Hewad TV, SABA TV (2008-2010) and Afghanistan Radio & Television (2006-2007). He won the 2007 Kabul Short Film Festival with his film Shelter (2006), which was screened at the 2006 Hiroshima Animation Film Festival, the 2007 NAAF Film Festival in Bosnia, and the 2007 Leipzig Film Festival. His other short films include Perfume (2009), Hitler (2009), Solitude (2002), Event (2019), Red Fish (2018), and Earthquake (2022). His works were shown in Germany in addition to Afghanistan in 2013. Mohsen Hossaini came to Drøbak (Norway) in September 2015, where he continues his work. 
 
Lajaward Haqiqi (born in 1992 in Kabul) is the first female animation artist in Afghanistan. She earned a bachelor's degree in graphic design and a master's degree in performing arts from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Kabul University. In 2010, she learned how to create animated films at the animation school of the Goethe-Institut in Kabul. In her artistic career so far, she has made seven animated films and one animation series. Her working style is characterized by a unique experimental method. In December 2018, she worked as a lead animator on the animation series Yussuf and Zulaikha. She received much recognition and four awards for her artistic work.  
 

© Mohammad Nasir Hashimi

Mohammad Nasir Hashimi is an animator and film director born in Afghanistan in 1990. He studied film directing at Kabul University and film production at the Beijing Film Academy. Hashimi was the head of the art department at Afghanistan's Ministry of Information and Culture and is the founder of Kapila Motion Pictures. He made three animated films, one animated series and three short fiction films and has a total of 13 years of experience in the film industry. Hashimi has been living in France since August 2021.