WAKHAN
an Other Afghanistan
Supported by ARSENAL CONTEMPORARY & NIKON CANADA
"One of the boldest proposals of the RVCQ was probably Wakhan of Varial Cédric Houin. Invited to an expedition north of Afghanistan, the viewer crosses the path of nomadic peoples living in remote lands plains of Pamir and Hindu Kush. Logically awarded the Prix Pierre and Yolande Perrault, this project anthropological displays a formal originality that ignores any contextual setting. This work, rendered singular thanks to the purity of its look, is articulated around long shots of faces chiseled by wind and cold, scenes of everyday life and laughing children, and has an undeniable poetic flavor."
CH Ramond, Sequences Magazine
"Wakhan could be described as a psychedelic documentary, the viewer is left with an unforgettable whiff of the uncanny, with the sense that he has been given a privileged look at what it really going on, and that he is the walrus. Varial’s film is at once minimalist and epic, self-effacing and audacious. It defies the conventions and pushes the envelope of documentary film-making, which the genre badly needs, particularly in Canada, where it is taken so seriously that a certain stodginess has set in".
Alex Shoumatof, Vanity Fair and New Yorker writer.
WAKHAN - 118min, color HD.
Winner at RVCQ 2014 ( CANADA ) for best first or second documentary.
Official Selection and Coup de coeur at Etonnants Voyageurs Festival 2015 ( France)
Wakhan, a cinematic poem, sketches two tribes: the Wakhis and the Kyrgyz. Filmed in furthest reaches of this mythical, Hindu-Kush plateau, and far removed from the Taliban, it's an exploration in the pursuit of pure, non-verbal sensations. This journey through the Wakhan Corridor connects with the daily lives of these reclusive peoples living at altitudes of 4,000 m. Artistic, experiential and impressionistic, Wakhan, a documentary, peers into this mysterious Afghan reality.
VIDEO ON DEMAND - 7$ Rent / 10$ Own
Directed by Varial
Edited by Cyril Lochon
Original Score David Drury
Produced by Varial, Fabrice Nadjari, Victorine Sentilhes, Pierre Trahan
Delegate Producer Victorine Sentilhes
Associate Producers Joshua Scherett, Cyril Lochon David Drury, Pierre Trahan
Globe and Mail - Toronto review
theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and-architecture/a-cinematic-poem-captures-afghanistans-isolated-wakhan-corridor/article18039724/
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