TUFS Cinema: Screening of the Afghan documentary film “Moallem Aziz”
January 14, 2025
On Saturday, December 14th, 2024, TUFS Cinema held a screening of the Afghan film “Moallem Aziz” at the Agora Global Prometheus Hall.
This documentary film by director Malek Shafi’i focuses on the daily life of Azizullah Royesh and the school he founded, the Marefat High School. Despite being a documentary, it is full of the poverty, violence, destruction and chaos that have become the norm in Afghanistan. Amidst this, the film shines a light on the students who raise their voices and take action to make Afghan society a better place.
After the screening, there was a talk session with the director, Malek Shafi’i, and Dr. Masato Toriya, a lecturer at the World Language and Society Education Centre at TUFS.
Although Mr. Shafi'i was born and spent his childhood in Afghanistan, he has spent most of his life as a refugee overseas. After living in Pakistan, Iran, the Netherlands and Canada, he moved to Denmark six years ago and is currently working as a software developer. He talked about his own life story, comparing it to the character of Dr. Azizullah in the film. In addition to giving an overview of Afghanistan, Dr. Toriya explained the background to the various incidents and movements depicted in the film, focusing on Kabul in the 2010s, and their significance in the history of modern Afghanistan. By looking at maps and data again, the images became more three-dimensional, and understanding deepened.
During the Q&A session, the meaning of being a teacher (asked by a teacher) and hopes for the future were discussed, as well as the current situation in Afghanistan, Dr. Azizullah, and the students at the Marefat High School.
The subtitles for the film were prepared with the participation of students, with the cooperation of the Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy, which runs an internship program that many of our students also participate in. The talk session was also interpreted by students from our Graduate School's Japanese-English Interpretation and Translation Program. With the help of so many people, the preparations and management of the event went smoothly, and the screening was a great success, with over 150 people from both inside and outside the university attending.
