Frame by Frame screening and Q&A, Friday, Nov. 6, 7-10 p.m., St. Andrew's United Church, 1044 St. Georges Ave., North Vancouver. Tickets: $15 online at framebyframevancouver.eventbrite.ca.
After decades of war and the fall of the oppressive Taliban regime, press freedom emerged in Afghanistan and allowed photojournalists to reframe their country for the world.
A new award-winning documentary, Frame by Frame, follows four Afghan photojournalists as they navigate the new media landscape.
Under Taliban rule, taking a photo was a crime until 2001 when the ban was lifted and a photography revolution was born.
Set in a modern Afghanistan "bursting with color and character," Frame by Frame is done in cinema vérité style and features intimate interviews, powerful photojournalism and never-before-seen archival footage shot in secret during the Taliban regime.
Lauryn Oates, who grew up in West Vancouver, manages education projects in Afghanistan and has promoted the rights of Afghan women since 1996. She will be facilitating a screening of Frame by Frame next week in North Vancouver.
"I know the people depicted in the film, and they really deserve the profile because they are absolutely heroic and not recognized enough in the West," says Oates, via email from Kabul. "I hope people will see another side of Afghanistan, one where bright, dedicated journalists, photographers and other professionals are struggling to rebuild their country. In particular, the gains in the media sector in Afghanistan have been huge and media is such a pillar of democracy."
When Oates arrived back in Kabul this summer she found a pretty tense atmosphere.
"Security is at an all-time low for sure, at least in the time I've been coming here (since 2003)," explains Oates. "Our mobility is greatly reduced and we face a lot of new threats. More aid workers have been killed, injured or kidnapped in Afghanistan than in any other country in the world. So it's a very complex security environment and you have to be hyper vigilant while working here."
On the other hand, says Oates, so much change has occurred in Afghanistan over the last decade, that there is great reward in sticking it out there, "to be able to watch things get better and see the society moving forward."
The North Vancouver screening of Frame by Frame will be followed by a Q&A via Skype with Massoud Hossaini, the first Afghan to win a Pulitzer Prize and who is featured along with his wife in the film.
"His work is well known and highly respected both within the Afghan media sector, but also among photojournalists the world over," said Oates.
Tarique Qayumi, an Afghan-Canadian filmmaker and producer on the movie The Gift, will also be hand during the Q&A. Proceeds from the screening will benefit the Fanoos/Lantern Fund for Teacher Training in Afghanistan, which pays for 1,000 Afghan teachers to become certified every year, along with equipping their schools with science labs and libraries.
"In my view, education should be the priority for Afghanistan's reconstruction," says Oates. "Improving the quality of teaching and learning is the best antidote to war that exists."
