Kathleen Foster

AFGHAN WOMEN: A HISTORY OF STRUGGLE

Afghan Women: A History of Struggle challenges mainstream media's portrayal of Afghanistan's female population, unveiling the hidden revolutionary achievements of a much-stereotyped women's culture. I continue to show the film and lead post-screening discussions to college audiences, faith based and community organizations and high school classes. Several universities are including it in their yearly curriculum. It has been shown to select audiences in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Currently the film is being introduced to audiences in Europe. In October 2010 it was included in the DOK Leipzig Film Festival, DOKMarket and in November it was chosen as an Official Selection at the Bruxelles Fiction and Documentary Festival.

2011 Update

I am now in the process of creating an update to the film with recently shot material that shows conditions in Afghanistan right now and what Afghans are doing to change a world dominated by violence and corruption. Included will be new interviews with the two main characters in the film, Fahima Vorgetts and Fawzia Afzal Khan, who comment on the situation as the war escalates and expands across the border into Pakistan.

Fahima Vorgetts, as director of the Afghan Women's Fund, raises money to build schools for women and girls in Afghanistan and travels to Afghanistan 2 or 3 times a year. She was a consultant for Women For Afghan Women: Shattering Myths and Reclaiming The Future, edited by Sunita Mehta and Behind The Burqa, by Batya Swift Yasgur. She frequently speaks at conferences, universities, religious organizations and on national and international television and radio stations, including BBC and NPR and has featured in such publications as the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Post and Huffington Post. For her work as a human rights advocate she has received numerous awards including, the Lifetime Achievement Award "for Extraordinary Contribution to Peace and Justice" awarded by the Ann Arundel Peace Action Organization, the Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice and the Human Right Community Award by the UN Association of the National Capital Area.

Fawzia Afzal-Khan is Professor of English, University Distinguished Scholar and Director of Women's and Gender Studies at Montclair State University. She is author of two books on Cultural Imperialism and Pakistani Political Theatre, as well as \Editor of books on Postcolonial Theory and Muslim Women. Her memoir, Lahore With Love: Growing Up with Girlfriends Pakistani-Style, was published in 2010. Dr. Afzal-Khan has written and published extensively on women's rights and Talibanization in Pakistan in Counterpunch and other journals, and is a trained vocalist and performer in the North Indian Classical tradition. She is winner of the Elizabeth Cady Stanton "The World Is Moving" Award from the NJ Women's Rights Information Center, NJ.

In the new update Fahima and Fawzia discuss the implications of current U.S. /NATO plans to make a deal with the Taliban and give insight into the war under the Obama administration, broadening the context for the contemporary and historical analysis of U.S. and European involvement in Afghanistan.

To film and edit this new material, I need $30,000, and I am asking for contributions to defray the cost of the new segment.

All contributions are tax deductible and can be made to the New York Foundation for the Arts, the fiscal sponsor of Afghan Women: A History of Struggle, through their website: http://www.nyfa.org/level2.asp?id=125&fid=10

Please consider making a donation and passing on this request.

What People Are Saying About The Film

" Highly recommended. An exceptionally powerful documentary. Should be required viewing for history and women' studies classes. The elements of the film are sure to invite discussion." Educational Media Reviews Online

". . .exposes the big lie of the U.S. freeing Afghanistan . . . makes the connection between U.S. and Islamic fundamentalism, global and local politics, religion, money, and oil." Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian Author.

"Foster challenges viewers to examine how Afghan women have continually borne the dual costs of American imperial ambitions on the one side, and the barbarity of feudal warlords on the other." Prerana Reddy, Director of Public Events, Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA

"At last, a concise, well-made documentary chronicling the history of women's struggle for their rights in Afghanistan. Excellent historic footage of pre-Taliban and Soviet-era Afghanistan. Filmmaker Kathleen Foster (Point of Attack) casts her journalistic eye to provide insight and a holistic view of the history of the Afghan women's movement." Nadia Hlibka, MESA FilmFest Coordinator

In 2009, Kathleen Foster traveled to Lahore, Pakistan where Afghan Women: A History of Struggle was screened at the annual World Festival of the Arts. Miranda Husain of the Pakistani Times called the film "the highlight of the ninth day . . . a thought provoking documentary".

Afghan Women: A History of Struggle is distributed in the U.S. by Cinema Guild. www.cinemaguild.com and is a fiscally sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts, www.nyfa.org

© kathleen foster 2011
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