Tell Spring Not to Come This Year

By January this year all the international ISAF-forces had pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving the peacekeeping responsibility in this troubled country to the Afghan National Army. It has now been 14 years since the American-led invasion of Afghanistan. What did it accomplish? Violence is surging, and a stronger Taliban are now operating throughout the country. Now the poorly equipped – and hardly ever paid – soldiers of the Afghan National Army are left to fight this battle alone. Tell Spring Not to Come This Year gives us a remarkable and haunting look at a year in the lives of those soldiers – an intimate story about the human side of combat, told from a perspective previously unseen. Tell Spring Not to Come This Year won the main award for documentaries at this year’s Berlinale.

After the screening, the director Saeed Farouky will join foreign correspondent Anders Sømme and Professor Elisabeth Eide to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. What is the status today, 14 years after the invasion, and what is the way forward for this conflict-ridden country?
This event is presented in cooperation with The Norwegian Peace Council, and is led by its representative Bitte Vatvedt.

The screening is part of The Critical Room – Films from the South's forum for film and debate. Well over 100 discussions between invited guests and the audience has been held since the program was established in 2003. The goal is to dig deeper into current pressing issues related to Asia, Africa and Latin America.
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The event is in partnership with The Norwegian Peace Council

Saaed Farouky is an award-winning British-Palestinian filmmaker, photographer, and writer. Past films include The Runner (2013) and There Will Be Some Who Will Not Fear Even That Void (2013). He runs the production company Tourist With a Typewriter, is Senior TED Fellow and has been artist-in-residence at the Tate Britain and the British Museum.