Saving Mes Aynak is the important documentary showing at Full Frame this year. How can that be? Because it is a call to action that needs immediate attention. Deep in Afghanistan is a hidden village that’s around 5,000 years old. The location is finally being excavated by locals with a passion for seeing their history uncovered. Archaeologist Qadir Temori has more to worry about then fragile relics and Taliban terrorists. Turns out that Afghanistan has sold the land to the Chinese to become a massive copper mine. How can this be? How can a county truly sell out its history for a quick buck? Luckily brave filmmaker Brent E. Huffman went into the heart of this dangerous country with his camera to capture the beauty of the ancient Buddhist temples. How can the world be horrified when ISIS destroys museums yet somehow the Chinese can gut a discovery as big as Pompeii without a United Nations uproar? This is a movie that demand you at least Tweet your Congressman after viewing. The movie has no ending since the Chinese haven’t unleashed the construction crew on the delicate heritage.
I had a chance to talk to Hoffman at Full Frame. Turns out that he put his life on the line to capture this footage. He was on dangerous ground. Plus the Chinese and the U.S. State Department don’t seem to be too happy with the attention. But somebody needs to let us know about what will get blasted away because of money.
The good news is that Saving Mes Aynak will be shown on Al Jazeera America this summer.
