Cal Poly Hosts Premiere of Professor’s Documentary on Afghan Villagers

SAN LUIS OBISPO – “Afghanistan: The Terror and Dreams of a Village,” a documentary film produced by Cal Poly Social Sciences lecturer Maliha Zulfacar, will premiere at a special screening at 7 p.m. Nov. 27 in the Cal Poly Theatre.

The documentary is narrated by actor and noted civil rights activist Ossie Davis. Zulfacar compiled the documentary footage during a trip to territory held by the Northern Alliance in the summer of 2000.

Zulfacar has shown some of her videos to students in her classes on global ethnic conflict but was spurred to edit them into TV documentary format after the Sept. 11 attacks. Aided by Cal Poly’s College of Liberal Arts, Zulfacar is seeking to interest a major network in broadcasting the documentary.

The Tuesday evening screening in the Cal Poly Theatre in the Performing Arts Center complex is hosted by the student Social Sciences Club. The screening is free, but the club will ask for donations to help pay for the documentary’s editing costs.

Zulfacar’s documentary is an extremely powerful look at the life of ordinary villagers in Afghanistan, said Cal Poly Professor Terry Jones, the club adviser. “Some of us saw a preliminary version last year; it was powerful and compelling then – and it’s even more relevant now.”

Zulfacar shot hours of video while traveling in Northern Alliance territory in Afghanistan with an international women’s group. She interviewed villagers, refugees fleeing the Taliban, students struggling to attend school in the middle of a war, and Northern Alliance leaders, including Ahmad Shah Masoud, “The Lion of Panjshir,” assassinated by the Taliban just two days before the Sept. 11 attacks.

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