Paradigm Shift

Paradigm Shift’s Community Outreach Coordinator Julia K. Weis here interviews Havana Marking, director of the awe-inspiring documentary Afghan Star, which explores the impact of Afghanistan’s version of Pop Idol on the varying factions within Afghan culture and the influence of musical self-expression within a society restricted by religious extremism.

Afghan Star had its New York Premiere at the International Human Rights Watch Film Festival, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in New York. The documentary was released by Zeitgeist Films and represented by Shotwell Media.

View the trailer on PShift TV here.

PShift: What prompted you to develop the film Afghan Star? What’s your relationship to the show and/or Afghanistan?

HM: I had always wanted to go / explore Afghanistan – all my life. My father had been there in the 60s and the images from that era were just epic. I tried to pitch lots of ideas – just to get there. Luckily none of them were commissioned, but in the process I talked to a British war journalist, Rachel Reid (now the brilliant Human Rights Watch officer there). She in fact told me about the new TV series Afghan Star and put me in touch with the Local channel owners.

I knew instantly that it was a genius idea – I have always loved Pop Idol (I always cry!) – and knew it would be the perfect vehicle and way in to such a complex and extraordinary place.

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Paradigm Shift Community Outreach Coordinator Julia K. Weis here interviews acclaimed documentary filmmaker Jesse Epstein about her work dealing with the relationship between body image, media and physical perfection. Epstein, who most recently had the video “Sex, Lies and Photoshop” featured as a New York Times Op-Ed, received an MA in documentary film from NYU and was selected for “25 New Faces of Independent Film” by Filmmaker Magazine. Her three films are distributed to universities and high schools through New Day Films (a filmmaker owned & operated business). “WET DREAMS AND FALSE IMAGES” received the Short Subject Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival, “34x25x36” premiered at SXSW, and “THE GUARANTEE” won Best Short Film at the Newport International Film Festival.

NYT Op-Ed "Sex, Lies and Photoshop"

PShift: How did you get started working in film?

Jesse Epstein: It’s weird, I feel like I started more with thinking about body image and issues and then thinking about what’s the best way to communicate a message and that kind of led me to, OK – media, like, how do you counteract media messages? You have to use media itself! So I really wanted to learn filmmaking specifically to do projects around body image and media, but then I got really swept up into it and now I’m in love with film as lighting and camera angles and things I never thought I would be interested in.

I started off trying to learn about filmmaking by working as a prop-person and an on-site dresser – I worked in the art department on independent films. I then realized that I was getting some of the tools but I wasn’t getting any of the theory. So I decided that I would go to graduate school at NYU at the Gallatin program and create my own major, but really focus on documentary film and gender studies and combine all of this stuff. This barbershop (from “WET DREAMS & FALSE IMAGES”) was my thesis film, and then I’ve been building on that to make a larger project. It’s definitely been a way for me to get involved in social activism.
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