Abstract

Abstract
The Small, Imperfect Cinema of Afghanistan - Through the Work of Roya Sadat

This thesis investigates Afghan cinema, reborn two decades ago with the establishment of new modes of governance and influenced by all the changes this brought. Following Teshome H. Gabriel, the project examines Afghan cinema according to three core means of investigation, as laid out in his critical Third World film theory: text, production and reception. It then supplements Gabriel’s schema with an analysis of the importance of education. After the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan’s post-conflict reconstruction and transition has been significantly shaped by neo-liberal economic policies that have strongly impacted its fragile film industry, as well as the country at large and its people’s lives. This thesis looks closely at the current infrastructures for cinema in Afghanistan via the journeys that filmmaker Roya Sadat has made through them and the circumstances under which her films have been made. It focuses on the management of complex forms of technical production, the mobilization of skilled labor and professional expertise, and the deployment of substantial resources in a situation of extreme economic and social duress. Afghan culture is steeped in poetry and stories upon which its cinema draws. There is a hunger to tell stories. This thesis melds evaluations of extra-textual contexts with explorations of the cinematic language and narrative tropes of recent Afghan films in order to understand how this cinema connects and communicates with an Afghan audience.