WuWD@ DOK Leipzig 2021 - Mariam Ghani - “Preserving History During Times of Conflict”

May 1

April 29, 2022

We recognize that war, conflict, and occupation often bring destruction not only to physical bodies but to the histories, archives, and cultural identities of the people impacted. During this conversation, I spoke with artist, writer, filmmaker, and teacher Mariam Ghani about her latest project What We Left Unfinished which is executive produced by Alysa Nahamis. We discussed the necessity and importance of rediscovering history that was previously thought to be lost as well as the unique ways those subjected to occupation and conflict whether that be through war or political structures can hold on to their stories.

Photo Credit: Tommy Lau

[Image Description: Mariam is pictured from the torso up. She wears a grayish-blue T-shirt and a dark blue jacket. She has black hair with big curls.]

Film Still: What We Left Unfinished

Image Description: A hand holds a film slate inscribed in both Dari and English in the foreground, reading Take 1, Shot A EX, Scene 6. In the background, partly obscured by the slate, a group of men sit on the ground in a dimly lit cave.

Mariam’s Bio

Mariam Ghani is an artist, writer, and filmmaker. Her feature-length documentary WHAT WE LEFT UNFINISHED premiered at the 2019 Berlinale and is currently in US theatrical and VOD release. She teaches at Bennington College.

About What We Left Unfinished

WHAT WE LEFT UNFINISHED is the mostly true story of five unfinished feature films from the Communist era in Afghanistan (1978-1991). It reunites the newly restored footage from these lost films with the people who went to crazy lengths to make them in a time when films were weapons, filmmakers became targets, and the dreams of political regimes merged with the stories told onscreen. Archival fictions, present-day recollections, and both imagined and real visions of Afghanistan collide in a film that reminds us that nations are inventions, and films can reinvent them.