Tropfest – Short Film

Tropfest is a terrific source of short films for exploring the concept of belonging.  The finalist videos and trop junior films are available online at http://tropfest.ninemsn.com.au/ .  Take a look at ‘My Neighbourhood has been overrun by baboons’, ‘Nic and Shauna’ and ‘Fish Lips’.

In A Strange Land

A migrant returns to her homeland; Afghanistan.

This 4 Corners episode follows Nel Hedayat who was 6 years old when her family escaped Afghanistan and moved to Britain.  At 21, Nel returns to Afghanistan in the belief that she will find her identity in the country of her birth.  What she does  find is women living lives where simple things like going to school or not obeying a husband can have terrible consequences.

“I found myself trying to reconcile my Afghan identity and my British one and somehow synthesize something new, an indentity that was a mixture of these two contrasting worlds. Trying to do what is right, but not knowing what right was, often made me confused and angry.”

Click here to read about the episode.

Further reading on the topic of women in  Afghanistan can be found here.