Malek Shafi'i

Malek Shafi’i is a film director, producer, festival organiser, and human rights activist from Afghanistan.

Malek Shafi’i is the Founder and Executive Director of the "Afghanistan International Human Rights Film Festival" (AIHRFF).

He is a film documentary maker based in Kabul and has been working in the country and abroad.

Shafi’i completed his education at Baagh Ferdaws Filmmaking Center in Tehran and Sociology studies in Kateb University in Kabul.

Additionally, he attended film production, arts management courses and studies in the Netherlands and the United States.

1999 Rewayat-e ‒ Hejr / 5 episodes / each 15m / Iran / About Illegal Afghan Refugees in Iran

2000 Charaqhaye Rabeta / 5 episodes / each 25m / Iran / Autobiography and life of select Afghan Poets, Writers, Activists and Scientists who live in Iran

2003 Afghanistan, Heart of Asia / 9 episodes / each 25m / Afghanistan / An investigative reporting documentary series on the seven provinces of Afghanistan after the fall of Taliban; how the provinces look now, the local residents' expectations of assistance from the international community, their daily lives and challenges, and historic and picturesque places to see and visit.

Malek returned to Afghanistan in 2006, after 20 years of exile, and founded "Bashgahe Cinema - Afghanistan Cinema Club – BASA Film", a non-profit organization that promotes cultural and arts development projects with a focus on training and producing the work of emerging Afghan filmmakers in Afghanistan.

2006 Screening of Malek's three documentaries (End of the Earth, Pamir Territory, and Up to the Parliament) at the Singapore Film Society and discussion on Afghanistan's challenges

The AHRF is an international film festival focusing on the subject of human rights.

It aims to encourage film makers who use their cameras to document struggles against discrimination, injustice and violence.

The festival is being organised by the Afghanistan Cinema Club with the support of various national and international organizations.

It aims to be a hub for film makers and artists working despite of censorship in their countries and whose works are restricted from public screenings.

The AHRF is a platform to share the works of film makers and artists who have unfortunately been marginalized by the authority.

It will present stories of lives affected by war, discrimination and injustice.

These stories are of people who have resisted oppression and fought against violence to create a more humane world.

AHRF invites entries to the festival.

The entries can be documentary, feature film, short film, animation or video art on the subject of human rights.

Entry is open to all national and international entrants.

2007 Small City Great Expectations / 6 episodes / each 25m / Afghanistan/ A research documentary series on the following topics to give an image of what is happening in Afghanistan six years after the fall of the Taliban:

For End of the Earth

For Drought in Hazarajat

For Pamir Territory

For Up to the Parliament

For Twenty Five Percent

BBC Persian

BBC World News, My Country Program

For Mohtarama

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

2007 Screening of Malek's three documentaries (End of the Earth, Pamir Territory, and Up to the Parliament), Academy of Art, Tehran.

Review and discussion of Afghan Cinema

Other cultural projects where he has collaborated extensively include the Kabul International Documentary and Short Film Festival, and Second Take Film Festival 2008, a film festival that juxtaposes the theme of gender, cinema and society in Afghanistan.

Malek has also acted as a Senior Media and Communication Advisor for RTA (Radio Television of Afghanistan), working with different NGO's and international organizations as well as with the United Nations system of agencies in Afghanistan, implementing film and media projects on the promotion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

He has directed and produced more than 30 films.

Some of them have won international film awards from different international film festivals in previous years.

Shafi’i was a Jury member of the Tolo TV Film Festival, Kabul Film Festival, Amnesty Award of CPH-DOX, ADB (Asian Development Bank) "My View" video competition and in the category judge of BANFF.

And with the need to create a cinematography stage to help Afghan filmmakers showcase their talent and expertise to Afghan filmgoers and the international audience living in Afghanistan, Malek joined creative forces with Afghan documentary filmmaker and human rights activist Diana Saqeb and Multimedia Producer and Arts Director Hassan Zakizadeh in 2011 to launch the first edition of Afghanistan Human Rights Film Festival in Kabul, as well as other provinces of the country, with the main objective of bringing human rights stories to a broader audience and to the real Afghan context.

Malek is a 2012 ArtsLink Residencies program Fellow in Visual Arts and Media, a program that engages communities through international arts partnerships.

In order to use the power of traditional and new media to influence filmmaking, impact human rights and to connect Afghanistan's current situation to other human rights issues from other parts of the world.