***** Traces: The Kabul Museum 1988. 2003. Japan. Directed by Tsuchimoto Noriaki. During the fall of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, in 1992, most of the artifacts of the national museum were destroyed or stolen. This video represents a rare film documentation of the Kabul Museum. 32 min.
Another Afghanistan: Kabul Diary 1985. 2003. Japan. Directed by Tsuchimoto Noriaki. Another Afghanistan traces the daily life of the citizens of Kabul during its civil war. In Japanese with English subtitles. 42 min.
Friday, December 19, 6:30
<http://www.moma.org/visit_moma/momafilm/docu_fort_2003.htm> <http://www.moma.org/visit_moma/momafilm/> *****
****** In Another Afghanistan: Kabul Diary 1985 (2003), Japanese director Tsuchimoto Noriaki narrates over footage shot in Soviet-controlled Kabul in 1985, giving rhapsodic accounts of nourishing orphanages, coed schools, the issuing of land deeds en route to collectivization. His companion piece, Traces: The Kabul Museum 1988 (2003), tours the place prior to Taliban-ordered destruction. Reciting each artifact's heritage-Indian, Greco-Roman, Egyptian-Noriaki implicitly argues for Afghanistan's cultural value, though curiously basing his claims on genteel notions of sophistication and first-world civility.
<http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0350/sinagra.php> *****
***** Afghan Spring 116min, 16mm, 1990 Director: Noriaki Tsuchimoto, Hiroko Kumagai, Abdul Latif
"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.
<http://www.coolidge.org/balagan/afghan_fall2003.html> ***** -- Yoshie
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