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Whose Story Is it? Part II: Postcards From Tora Bora

Published on September 14, 2007

In Postcards from Tora Bora follows filmmaker Wazhmah Osman in finding her story in war torn Afghanistan

How much do our personal journeys inspire story-telling? And when does a personal story become a historical account? In the second of this two-part series, “Whose Story Is It?” we spoke with Afghan-American filmmaker, Wazhmah Osman, about her film Postcards from Tora Bora and the journey in tracing her family past and reconciling her American present.

Video, shorts, films and press on the relationship between the Middle East and the United States seem to pervade the media landscape. But who are these story coming from? Postcards from Tora Bora is a film about a woman revisting her childhood and family history. She is exploring her country, Afghanistan, fearlessly; while mainstream coverage seems to skim the surface. There are no talking heads, experts or heads of state in this film. Its value stems from the point of view from which it is told, and the assumptions it contests. This age-old story of dual identity caused by migrations from war torn contexts is brought to life by the filmmaker and protagonist. This film gives a new voice to a universal story whose almost ironic complexities are too often muted by mainstream. An Afghan family leaving for the United States at the height of the Cold War and an Afghan-American daughter reclaiming her past in a post 9/11 Middle East. Camera in hand, Wazhmah became the voice of the voiceless, giving a face to the endless headlines after September 11.

Through home videos from the Afghanistan of the 1970’s, lively animation, photos and intimate interviews, Wazhmah captures the complexities of identity, history, family and war. Men and women ravaged by decades of war, the remnants of family and friends as many immigrate, go into exile or are left to adjust to new realities are themes of Postcards from Tora Bora. The film juxtaposes past, present and future; war, remnants of war and lapses of peace; Russian Communism, Islamic Fundamentalism and US military presence. As an adult woman going back to her country, carrying this history of violence, the filmmaker sheds light on a people’s will to continue to exist as a nation—the humanity behind the physical destruction of a country.

“War is very masculine. As a kid, my family moved us to Pakistan for four years after the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. There you had the secret police, guerrilla groups, the military and the paramilitary. If you are constantly around this environment, whether you are a little boy growing up or a little girl growing up, you just become part of that violence. So that way, it does make you take one side or the other, and become militarized, even as a little kid.”

As a storyteller, Wazhmah has the advantage of a dual identity: A Western documentarian and an Afghan woman. Through this vantage point, a woman walking down the street with a camera became a storyteller with the ability to give a platform to a people silenced by violence. Wazhmah shared with us that being perceived as an American woman gave her the advantage of access. Men, especially, were eager to share their passionate cries for a renewed Afghanistan in hopes that their voices would reach the world at large. Without understanding the context and asking the right questions, however, access of that sort is only skin deep. Wazhmah held a magic key as a documentarian, her own story as an Afghan woman. This combination gave her access to the hearts and minds of these men and women and to her own version of Afghanistan.

Filmmaker and protagonist Wazhmah Osman searching for remnants of her former life in Afghanistan.

This poses two of the hardest questions a filmmaker must ask: Who is the audience for this film? And, how do I reach this audience? A film like Postcards from Tora Bora contests many of the gender-based and cultural assumptions that have dictated public support for violence in the Middle East by the US, and disdain of Americans by those suffering the consequences. The same dual-identity that made the film, can be used to target the type of audience that this film could truly impact. The American bombarded by mainstream media, the Afghani living the violent consequences of war, the Afghan—or Middle Eastern—teenager uprooted from his country to be an “American” and anyone assuming that the effects of 9/11 were only felt in the US are all vital audiences for this film.

Although film festivals are one of the most important platforms for independent filmmakers, they do not guarantee this targeted reach. Wazhmah told us that in her experience, even getting into festival requires a fair amount of politicking. The voice of the filmmaker is at mercy to the annual trends set by programmers. Wazhmah mentioned how “aggravating it can be to get your film out when you know that the big film festivals set the stage for the entire circuit.” She explained that some programmers even told her that right now the hot topics were global warming and Iraq, not Afghanistan. For Postcards from Tora Bora it was Tribeca Film Festival that offered this platform.

“As a filmmaker, I really respect the Executive Director of Tribeca Film Festival for putting Afghanistan back in the headlines and back on people’s radar. They programmed, not only one film, but five films on Afghanistan. It shows that people aren’t original in their programming. Some of the places that didn’t accept our film initially have actually invited us to apply only because Tribeca [Film Festival] jumped on the bandwagon.”

One of the only photos the Osman family has of Wazhmah as a child before leaving Afghanistan for the US.

Even with the help of Tribeca Film Festival, reaching audiences that will be changed by this film is a big challenge. And promoting an intimate story that contests contemporary assumptions is no small feat. Programmers seem to feel saturated by documentaries on the Middle East, and conveying to them what makes a film different is the key. We asked Wazhmah if it was challenging for her to see American filmmakers, that may have little context of Afghanistan, make media that claims the “truth” on her own country. Her answer was,

“There are so many films, especially documentaries about Afghanistan that are done by American filmmakers. There is nothing wrong with that, but you don’t have many films done by, “the other.” And in that way, we had to create the authentic “Afghan” in me. However much that is true or not is another story. I think our identities are a lot more complicated than being one thing or another.”

On the surface,Postcards From Tora Bora and last’s month “Whose Story Is It?” piece on the film Wings of Defeat are direct opposites. Wings of Defeat is a factual and historical account of events that occurred over sixty years ago. The history that it is trying to reconcile has an almost anthropological purpose. Wazhmah Osman’s film is an up close look at the journey of an Afghan-American woman as she reconciles her personal past. Yet, these seem like only stylistic differences when in front and behind those cameras are women, exposing the stories of men and reconciling a violent past and present through voice—-her voice.

About Wazhmah Osman

Wazhmah Osman is a New York City based documentary filmmaker. She has a masters degree in Middle Eastern Studies from New York University and currently is a PhD candidate in Culture and Communication also at NYU. She is also completing the Culture and Media Program in Anthropology. Before going back to school she worked for six years at Millennium Film Workshops and Cooper Union School of the Arts as a film technician, film instructor, and curator. Her short film Buried Alive has been widely circulated by numerous human rights organizations in an effort to shed light on the Taliban’s brutal campaign against women.

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