This special screening is put together by Bob Nesson, a local filmmaker, who shot a documentary about Afghanistan twenty years ago. Balagan is honored to present this screening and very greatful to Bob for allowing Boston community to see his work and learn more about Afghanistan. Along with excerpts from Bob Nesson's film, a documentary "Beneath the Veil" will be shown.

Three Afghans from different tribes will be present at the screening. During discussion after the screening, they will provide personal perspectives based on their experiences in Afghanistan and the situation today. Balagan guests include:

• Obaid Nejati, a Hazara who fled Afghanistan with his family and is now a graduate student at Harvard studying administrative planning and social policy;
• Trina Estrada, a Pashtun who fled with her family in the 1980s from Afghanistan. She is a Muslim who married outside her faith and has been disowned by her family.
• Rina Amiri [not yet confirmed], a Pashtun now at JFK School of Government's Women in Public Policy Program and an activist in Women Waging Peace"

Beneath the Veil 50min, video, 2000
Director: Sariah Shah

Beneath the Veil is a documentary about the condition of women in Afghanistan, made with secret footage from RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan. It was produced last year by Sariah Shah, who risked her life to make this film that aired on CNN recently.

Between Three Worlds (excerpts) 1981
Cinematographer: Bob Nesson

"We will also show excerpts from a documentary I filmed in Afghanistan twenty years ago. The excerpts will show a far different Afghanistan than is seen today on CNN. Then it was a country where people were optimistic, where marketplaces in Kabul and Jalalabad were busy and filled with food, where factories produced goods shipped around the world, and where women in Western clothes attended Kabul University." - Bob Nesson

For further information please contact: Bob Nesson at bnesson@earthlink.net