Filmmaker Profile
Director Sedika Mojadidi on Filming Her Father in Motherland Afghanistan
Director Sedika Mojadidi
One in seven Afghan women dies in childbirth. Motherland Afghanistan, airing Sunday, May 13 on Global Voices on the WORLD Channel (check listings), introduces the women behind these devastating statistics. Afghan American filmmaker Sedika Mojadidi examines her father’s work as an OB/GYN as he struggles to make a difference. Beyond the Box spoke with Mojadidi about filming such an intimate story alongside her father.
Both your parents are physicians. How did you get into film?
I was always interested in movies. I gravitated toward them naturally, from a young age. And in school, I studied film for a long time, film theory and film history. I was never good in science or math so it’s ironic that I’m following my parent’s story because growing up I wasn’t really all that interested in medicine.
Your voiceover guides part of the film, but it’s your father’s voice that serves as the chief narrative. Was this your intention all along?
Dr. Qudrat Mojadidi serves as both a principle charcter in the documentary and as the filmmaker's father
It was always my plan. Actually, I never planned to be in the film but that emerged out of the process of making it for two years. After the first trip, we looked at some of the footage of me translating and other producers felt strongly about keeping me in the picture. I fought against it but eventually surrendered. I felt strongly from the get-go that the film needed to be from my father’s perspective. The film needed to be centered around him, his work, and the patients he looked after.
You immigrated to the U.S. when you were very little in 1972. How much of a culture shock was it for you to return to Afghanistan and shoot this film?
What’s Different About Karla’s Arrival?
By Koen Suidgeest
Filmmaker, Karla’s Arrival
Many films have been made about street children. Some good, some not. The kids are a thankful target for filmmakers like myself, as we ardently become sponges for their heartfelt stories. With so much done already, why then, I was often asked, make another documentary about one?
The answer is simple: by means of a compelling story which accompanies a young street mother and her baby for over a year, I want to draw attention to the alarming reality of homeless kids who are setting out to start their own families. This is new. During several years of research, we found that the proliferation of a next generation of street children is largely undocumented. Governments, NGO’s, academics, filmmakers… not even Unicef manages data on children who are born on the city streets. Statistically, they are all treated the same, while the social differences between parents and their children are enormous.
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That’s a Wrap!
By Kaleigh Gaynor
Thursday marks the end of the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival, which featured three ITVS funded documentary films, including Bitter Seeds, The Invisible War, and The Waiting Room.
Still from Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey (credit: Ninfa Z. Bito)
The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival is closing tonight on a high note, celebrating their festival journey with…. well, Journey! After a rousing screening of Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey at the Castro Theatre, including what is bound to be a fascinating Q&A with director Ramona S. Diaz (director of the ITVS funded documentaries Imelda and The Learning) and all five members of the band Journey, closing night attendees will head on over to SLOANE SQUARE[D], for a night of entertainment, dancing, food, and drinks.
The past 15 days have gone by so fast that it is hard to believe that another festival has come and gone. With more than 200 films screened and more than 45 countries represented, the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival proved once again to be an extraordinary showcase of innovation and cinematic discovery.
One particular highlight for ITVS was that The Waiting Room director Peter Nicks was featured on the festival’s Scoop du Jour website, a daily video feed presenting coverage of the happenings at the festival. In the interview, Nicks discusses his documentary The Waiting Room, an intimate and intense day-in-the-life documentary portrait of the patients, doctors, nurses, and social workers at Highland Hospital in Oakland. Check out the clip after the jump: › Continue reading
Every Day Is a Holiday Celebrates Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month
By Kate Sullivan Green
ITVS Broadcast & Distribution Manager
ITVS’s Kate Sullivan Green sits down with Theresa Loong to talk about the documentary Every Day Is a Holiday, which begins airing on Public Television May 1st.
Filmmaker Theresa Loong
After finding her father’s secret diary from the time he was a P.O.W., Theresa Loong knew she had a story to tell. In Every Day Is a Holiday, she documents her father’s path from being a Chinese Malaysian teenager serving in the British Royal Air Force, to being held as a P.O.W. in Japan during World War II, and his long, complicated path to U.S. citizenship that followed.
Kate Sullivan Green had the opportunity to sit down with Theresa and talk about making her first film, the ups and downs of documenting a family member, and what she learned about the challenges so many Chinese faced immigrating to America.
What stood out to you about your dad while making Every Day Is a Holiday?
His fierce, fierce, fierce determination. I always had a sense he had a really interesting life, but one of the things I’ve taken away is how much struggle he went through to become a citizen. That gives me more appreciation for him and for people in general who go through hardship. I consider myself an empathetic person, but this really puts things in perspective when I am feeling down. I have a deep respect for what he went through.
One other thing is that I didn’t realize how difficult it would be for him to relive the past. I guess I thought he was ready to share his story, but there were times when he would say, “Oh, that’s enough” or get up and walk away. Sometimes it was just because he was tired, but other times I’d see his eyes go to a far away place as he was actually reliving the moment. Especially with first person narrative, we have to balance wanting to know history with sensitivity. › Continue reading
Crossover Premieres on FUTURESTATES
Directed by Tina Mabry the film will be available to stream for free at futurestates.tv and simultaneously on pbs.org. An online social screening of the short will take place here this Friday, May 4 at 11AM PT / 2PM ET.
In a future where schools are segregated by economic status, a struggling mother must decide whether to sell her own organs to give her children a better education. Learn more about Crossover from filmmaker Tina Mabry in a recently conducted Skype interview, after the jump.
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A FUTURESTATES Double Header: Watch Charlie 13 and Gunny
The FUTURESTATES shorts will be streamed live through ITVS’s new social video player starting on Thursday, April 26 at 5PM PT / 8PM ET with a screening of Charlie 13 followed by Gunny. Filmmakers Michael McMillian (Charlie 13) and Patrick Stettner (Gunny) will be chatting live to discuss their film and take your questions.
About Charlie 13
On the eve of his 13th birthday, will Charlie Tuttle submit to a government-mandated tracking implant, or answer a more dangerous call to adventure?
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Muslim Stories Marinate Hawaiian Style
Filmmaker Justin Mashouf was one of six filmmakers invited to the Diverse Muslim Voices Exchange, hosted by the Doris Duke Foundation of Islamic Arts and ITVS. He offered BTB this roundup of the Exchange, held April 3-5, 2012 in Hawaii.
The Diverse Muslim Voices Exchange was held at the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art at Shangri-La.
Collaboration is the best teacher and earlier this month, my classroom was a recreated 17th century Mughal garden overlooking the crisp blue ocean in Honolulu. Life is tough. I was fortunate enough to be included among the six filmmakers working on Muslim themed documentaries invited to fly to out to Hawaii for a 3-day meeting of the minds at the Diverse Muslim Voices Exchange. The event was hosted by The Doris Duke Foundation of Islamic Art at Shangri-La, the residence of the late Ms. Duke, which houses one of the world’s most unique private collections of Islamic Art.
We were invited to workshop and pitch our stories to funders from Ford Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, Black Public Media, and the Center for Asian American Media. I had come to pitch a film I have been researching for four years about men who convert to Islam in prison and their journey transitioning out of incarceration. › Continue reading
Charlie 13 Premieres on FUTURESTATES
Directed by Michael McMillain the film will be available to stream for free at futurestates.tv and simultaneously on pbs.org.
On the eve of his 13th birthday, will Charlie Tuttle submit to a government-mandated tracking implant, or answer a more dangerous call to adventure? Learn more about Charlie 13 from filmmaker Michael McMillain in a recently conducted Skype interview, after the jump.
› Continue reading
Gunny Premieres on FUTURESTATES
Directed by Patrick Stettner the film will be available to stream for free at futurestates.tv and simultaneously on pbs.org.
A young female soldier returns home after a traumatic tour of duty, taking a new medication that can selectively erase memories. Learn more about Gunny from filmmaker Patrick Stettner in a recently conducted Skype interview, after the jump.
› Continue reading
Catching Up with Whitney Dow and Septent for When the Drum is Beating Premiere
The documentary, which premieres Thursday on Independent Lens, explores Haiti’s complex past and present through the music of the country’s oldest and best-known band — Septentrional. Last week, BTB caught up with the director and band via Skype in New York.
Learn more about When the Drum is Beating on the Independent Lens website.
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