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RESISTANCE CINEMA in collaboration with WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM (WILPF) present AFGHAN WOMEN: A HISTORY OF STRUGGLE Produced and Directed by Kathleen Foster, 2007  69 minutes

 

WHEN:  Sunday June 28th 1:15 pm

WHERE:  Community Church of NYC Gallery Room 28 East 35th st. @Park ave.

ADMISSION: Free, donations appreciated 

SPECIAL GUEST:  Director KATHLEEN FOSTER will lead a post screening discussion

 

The tumultuous history of Afghanistan from the perspective of the country's female population, AFGHAN WOMEN: A HISTORY OF STRUGGLE chronicles the stories of women who have risked their lives to achieve political, economic, and social equality, from the early 1970's to the present day.

Rare archival footage illustrates the amazing stories of women who participated in the revolutionary movement of the 1970's and the years of political turmoil that followed: from proxy war, to civil war, to the ensuing oppressive rule of the Taliban and the current sway of regional warlords and general instability.

 

These women shed light on the cold war battle between the US and the USSR that was played out on Afghan soil, and the CIA's role in the creation of terrorist groups on the Pakistan-Afghan border that plague the world today.

 

The film goes inside a women's prison and records the drafting of an Afghan Women's Bill of Rights by women from across Afghanistan at a conference in Kandahar in 2003. In scenes like these, women debunk the commonly-held myth that the U.S. intervention and the fall of the Taliban brought Afghan women freedom, and expose "Operation Freedom" as a euphemism for U.S. domination of the region with its oil and gas reserves.

 

Directed by Kathleen Foster (Point of Attack), Afghan Women is an important film that explores the role women play in developing nations. 

 

KATHLEEN FOSTER:  Born in Britain, Kathleen Foster has been a New York-based photojournalist and documentary filmmaker since the 1970's.  Her photos appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Scholastic Magazines, Time, Village Voice, and Z Magazine. Her work is represented in the collections of The Museum of the City of New York, York College and private collectors.  Her photographs of Afghanistan were exhibited at the Leedell Gallery in Soho and portfolios were published in various photography magazines.  In the late 80’s she began her career as an independent filmmaker producing documentaries that address issues of social significance.