Siddiq Barmak
Writing
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Siddiq Barmak (Born September 7, 1962) in Panjshir, Afghanistan, is a film director and producer. He received an M.A degree in cinema direction from the Moscow Film Institute (VGIK) in 1987. He has written a few screenplays and has made a few short films. His first feature film Osama, won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004. There is a stylistic echo in Osama featured in Afghan films by the Iranian Makhmalbaf dynasty; father Mohsen's Kandahar, and daughter Samira Makhmalbaf's At Five in the Afternoon, the latter also shot in post-Taliban Kabul. Barmak directed Osama with significant funding and assistance from the elder Makhmalbaf. The Iranian director invested thousands of dollars in the film, lending Barmak his Arriflex camera and encouraging him to send the movie to international festivals, which eventually generated further funding from Japanese and Irish producers. Barmak received "UNESCO’s Fellini Silver Medal" for his drama, Osama, in 2003. Barmak is also director of the Afghan Children Education Movement (ACEM), an association that promotes literacy, culture and the arts, which was also founded by Makhmalbaf. The school trains actors and directors for newly emerging Afghan cinema. Barmak is one of the celebrated figures in Persian cinema as well as the emerging cinema of Afghanistan. Description above from the Wikipedia article Siddiq Barmak, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Dan Chase absconded from the CIA decades ago and now lives off the grid. When an assassin arrives and tries to take Chase out, the old operative learns that to ensure his future he now must reconcile his past.
The Old Man
After the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the restriction of women in public life, a preteen girl is forced to masquerade as a boy in order to find work to support her mother and grandmother.
Osama
Two American soldiers crash their helicopter in the Afghan desert and find themselves at the mercy of the natural elements and an eclectic family of Afghan opium farmers.
Opium War
According to the official history of Afghanistan, ruthless destruction has always prevailed over art and creation; but there is another tale to be told, the forgotten account of a diverse and progressive country, seen through the lens of innovative filmmakers, a story that survives thanks to a few brave Afghans, a small but very passionate group that secretly fought to save a huge film archive that was constantly menaced by war and religious fanaticism.
The Forbidden Reel
A pious old man, who is a proponent of suicide attackers, comes to Kabul to visit his only son, who, after the holy war had remained in the Soviet Union. He had enrolled his son in a religious school "to study the Koran and return to the village as a Mullah". In Kabul he learns that his son had decided to become a divine suicide bomber so as to go to Heaven. The film presents two different forces of the inner world of the protagonist father: paternal feelings and the holy religious ideology. The spectator witnesses how he loses his only son and holy belief. Shot in chaotic and dirty Kabul, the film portrays the incorrect interpretation of religion and the conflict of generations.
An Apple from Paradise
A mild-mannered farm laborer becomes enraged when the landowner's spoiled son forces the laborer's wife to sing for a foreign guest.
The Stranger
Amir's life is marked by a great emptiness: since his teenage son was killed in a rocket attack, his wife barely speaks and his eldest son does nothing but cause trouble. His work as a letter carrier is the only thing that brings Amir a little peace and restores a little normalcy. But with the conquest of Kabul by the Mujahideen, his daily route through the city looks more and more like crossing a minefield.
The Postman
Amid the destruction of Afghan cinema, a young boy rescues reels from a fire and carries them through Kabul, showing movies to people who rarely get the chance to see them.