Courtesy: Brent Huffman “Saving Mes Aynak”
WASHINGTON – For documentarian Brent Huffman, “Saving Mes Aynak,” his latest film detailing efforts to protect a 2,600-year-old ancient Buddhist city in Afghanistan from being demolished to mine the copper beneath it — it’s personal.
“I know what it feels like having someone more powerful than you stopping you from succeeding,” said the 34-year-old filmmaker, an assistant professor at the Medill School of Journalism.
“I grew up in a really oppressive environment, where I had an abusive father. … I can understand what it feels like when someone is stepping on your neck and trying to control your life,” he said.
Chinese state owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) won a bid in 2007 to mine the land in Logar Province, about 20 miles from Kabul. MCC made the largest single foreign investment in Afghanistan to date, paying $3.4 billion to lease the land for 30 years.
Afghanistan’s Mining Ministry says there is 11 tons of copper, and the six-kilometer underground site is worth tens of billions of dollars at today’s prices. Extracting the metal could deliver thousands of jobs and $1.2 billion in revenue a year to a country in desperate need, as international assistance dries up ahead of the planned U.S. and NATO withdrawal in 2014.
Archeologist have been working frantically to salvage as much of Mes Aynak and the thousands of underground Buddhist statues, temples and relics before construction on one of the largest open-pit mines begins. Construction is set to kickoff in 2013.
Historians say Buddhist in the first century BC erected the site, and again revived the city in the 10th Century AD. Vast copper deposits in the six-kilometer city, which is now underground, were found and the city became an important stop along the Silk Road.
Huffman claims the mine would stifle any future hopes of the Logar Province’s economic and cultural growth.
Afghanistan has been victimized by the Taliban, Russia, the U.S. and, now the new oppressor will be China, according, to Huffman who was drawn to the country while covering its first democratic elections in 2004.
Huffman says MCC has made empty promises to Afghans that it will bring new jobs, but in reality the only beneficiaries of the project are corrupt politicians and the mining company.
The professor is hoping his 77-minute film will draw the international community’s attention — sparking the same outrage that led him to risk his life on multiple occasions to make “Saving Mes Aynak.” The road leading to Logar Province is lined with landmines and Taliban fighters.
“I’ve got two kids. A 22-month old daughter and 3-month-son,” Huffman said. “They make this much more difficult, obviously, to do this and tell a story that could possibly kill you. There are constant risks.”
He played a rough-cut version of the film for about 20 people in Washington Thursday evening.
The independent filmmaker traveled alone to Afghanistan eight times beginning in 2011 to produce the film, which cost about $50,000.
Huffman, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, funded the film through grants. He also raised $35,000 from independent investors using Kickstarter, a website used to find funding for creative projects.
“Saving Mes Aynak” is set to hit the independent film circuit shortly, playing at film festivals across the country first and eventually appearing on Public Broadcasting Service.
“Ideally, I’d like it to be free to view,” Huffman, whose work has appeared on The Discovery Channel, National Geographic, CNN, NBC and Sundance Film Festival.
Despite the financial burdens, Huffman said the emotional cost of filmmaking is often the heaviest.
“If you witness something awful, you’ll carry that. It does become personal. I know they teach you to be neutral but that doesn’t exist,” he said.
Huffman said feelings from his childhood can surface during the filmmaking process and the deep subjects can thrust him back to confront old wounds.
“In part, it’s dealing with some of these childhood issues. Nothing bothers me more than someone with power hurting someone without power. That’s part of my drive,” Huffman said.
