(Mon 1st / 8pm / £3/2 but nobody refused entry for a lack of funds)
"Regardless of which side you are on in regards to the current war, you will be entranced by Enemies of Happiness. It is an important film which humanizes the people of Afghanistan by showing the daily struggles of everyday people and how the lingering ways of the previous regime still hover over their lives." screenrant.com
As the war in Afghanistan churns on year after year, the media coverage tends towards the fighting - but what of the people itself? What of those trapped between competing factions and ideologies as they tear the country apart searching for an elusive victory? This months film night looks at the people of Afghanistan with the multi-award winning documentary by Danish filmmaker Vores Lykkes Fjender. Amongst its awards are 2007 Documentary World Cinema Jury Prize Winner (at the Sundance Film Festival), Silver Wolf Award, the Nestor Almendros Prize and an International Premiere Award.
http://www.enemiesofhappiness.com
http://www.bristol.indymedia.org
In September 2005, Afghanistan held its first parliamentary elections in 35 years. Among the candidates for 249 assembly seats was Malalai Joya, a courageous, controversial 27-year-old woman who had ignited outrage among hard-liners when she spoke out against corrupt warlords at the Grand Council of tribal elders in 2003. Enemies of Happiness is a revelatory portrait of this extraordinary freedom fighter and the way she won the hearts of voters, as well as a snapshot of life and politics in war-torn Afghanistan.