The Land of the EnlightenedPieter-Jan De Pue

Fiction and documentary merge seamlessly in this immersive, beautifully photographed film that portrays the primitive beauty and roughness of life - or is it survival? - in Afghanistan in an unique way.

A group of Afghan children dig up old Soviet mines and sell explosives to other kids who work in the mines, looking for the precious stone lapis lazuli while day dreaming aloud about the day when the US military will finally withdraw from their country. Meanwhile, another child gang keeps a close eye on the convoys that smuggle the blue gems across the arid Pamir Mountains.

The evocative images that director Pieter-Jan De Pue captured on 16mm film, over a period of seven years, present a strange but fascinating look at the state in which Afghanistan is left for the next generation. As US troops prepare to leave, we follow De Pue as he discovers this hidden land in which young boys form outlaw gangs who control trade routes, sell the explosives from landmines and and use rusty tanks as their playground. They follow their own rules of war, modeled on the desolate landscape that they have inherited. 



War & conflict Visually stunning

Vertoond op editie(s) 2016
Screened at edition(s) 2016

Info

Directed by Pieter-Jan De Pue
Afghanistan, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands
87 min.
Farsi, English
Subtitles: Dutch, English

Programme

Belgian selection

credits
Director

Pieter-Jan De Pue

Producer

Bart Van Langendonck

Production company

Savage Film

Cinematography

Pieter-Jan De Pue

Editing

Stijn Deconinck, David Dusa

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(en screener)
(beschikbaar vanaf 20.03)