"Under
the political structure of the Cold War, the
West refuses to recognize the republic democratic
government of Afghanistan, claiming that it
was a puppet government of the Soviet Union.
This film is a record of the Afghan people around
this time." - TSUCHIMOTO Noriaki
A
portrait of Afghanistan between the Soviets
and Taliban, the last glimpses of the architectural
and sculptural treasures perished during the
wars of the last decade, riveting interviews
with members of opposing forces, socialists,
mujahedins, women, villagers who repeat in unison
their desire for peace and stability...
Afghan
Spring
is made by a team of Japanese documentary filmmakers
headed by Noriaki Tsuchimoto. The interest of
Afghan Spring lies in its perspective
offered by outsiders who have a very short time
to cover very large ground. The filmmakers attempt
to penetrate through the novelty values offered
by the country itself: the fact that they are
perhaps the first Western-aligned journalists
to be allowed into the country during the actual
withdrawal of Soviet troops is one of the themes
that is exploited. The filmmakers visited the
country in phased periods in the Spring and
Autumn of 1988. Clearly, they had visited a
country in the brink of transformation as the
Afghans themselves - without the intervention
of the Soviet Union - try to grapple with their
own political and military problems. The film
is wholly shot from the side of the authorities
and it is this "official" view which
proves to be the film's strength as well as
its ultimate weakness. The civil was is, at
last estimation, still not won by the government
and the Mujahedin rebel army seems to be buying
time for a decisive military confrontation.
Yet, the film breezes through this conflict
with an umistakable sense of a breakthrough.
The return to normalcy, the stated desire for
peace, the deadlock of the civil conflict are
themes which come through when the film is at
its best...
- Yamagata Documentary Film Festival
TSUCHIMOTO
Noriaki is regarded as one of the major
figures in Japanese documentary history. Born
in 1928 in Gifu Prefecture, Tsuchimoto grew
up in Nagoya. In 1938, he moved to Tokyo and
graduated from the law department in the processional
school at Waseda University in 1949. He then
studied western history in the literature department
at Waseda University, but was expelled in 1952
because of his political activities and his
academic record was removed. In 1956, he began
working as a part-time staff member at Iwanami
Film Productions making educational and public-relations
documentaries but soon chose to work freelance.
Tsuchimoto is best known for a series of over
15 films made over the past 40 years focusing
on the plight of the victims of "Minamata
disease," an illness caused by mercury
pollution in the coastal waters around the fishing
community of Minamata. Other major works include
Pre-History of the Partisans (1969), a documentary
on the feelings of radical students engaged
in subversive activities in Japan while political
movements by leftist students were thriving
and spreading globally, and A Scrapbook about
Nuclear Power Plants (1982), a collage film
entirely from newspaper clippings.
Hiroko
Kumagai was
born in 1951 and was educated at Waseda University.
She became a documentary filmmaker for TV in
1975 but has been working as a freelance director
since 1985. Her work has been mainly TV on the
Nippon Television Network, TV Tokyo and TV Asahi
channels. She has travelled to numerous countires
in the course of her work and is also the author
of a book and articles for journals and other
publications.
Abdul
Latif established an indpendent film production
company in the middle of the 1970s, and began
filmmaking. At his 38, in 1989, he was a director
of National Afghan Films.
