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Dr
Sarmast's Music School - 50 minute Documentary
About
the documentary
I
was inspired to become involved in the ROAM Project
after reading an article about Ahmad’s plans for
contributing to the rebuilding of his traumatised
country through the revitalisation of its music
culture and music education. After meeting with
Ahmad and learning of his pilot project - to build a
music school for orphans in Kabul, we discussed
making a documentary.
 As
a filmmaker, I was also interested in the resonating
layers of Ahmad’s personal story – of growing up
in Kabul with a famous musician father, the late
Ustad Salim Sarmast, and following in his footsteps
to become a musician; of being caught in the
cross-fire of civil war while studying musicology at
Moscow State Conservatorium, Russia, suddenly
finding himself a political refugee unable to return
to Afghanistan for over a decade; as well as the
realisation that deep down, Ahmad’s personal quest
to build the school is driven by the fact that his
father grew up in an orphanage and through taking a
vocation in music managed to achieve the highest
title: Ustad (Master).
My
intention is to make a personal film that will
follow Ahmad in his quest to build the music school,
while revealing the lives of his fellow musicians,
the current generation who are struggling to rebuild
their culture, and through their stories to
rediscover the rich, vital and flourishing musical
culture they were once a part of. These elements
will be interwoven with the contemporary story of a
young street kid, who is musically gifted and wants
to be a great musician.
With
some development funding from the Australian Film
Commission I recently headed off for my first film
trip to Kabul with Stephen Amis (camera) to join
Ahmad who had travelled across, with the support of
the Monash Asia Institute, to present the design of
the music school to the Minister for Education, His
Excellency Mr Mohammad Haneef Atmar.
Along
with filming Ahmad presenting his building plans to
gain support for the school, we also filmed the
block of land provided by the Minister of Education,
as well as interviews with musicians,
music classes taught by some of the surviving
masters of traditional Afghan music and local street
kids learning music at Aschiana, a centre that
offers support and basic education to war-affected
children.
From
this preliminary filming we have created a pitch
trailer to attract broadcaster interest, and in the
meantime, we are already planning our next trip to
Kabul.
Director,
Polly Watkins
Key
creatives
Writer/Director
Polly Watkins
Producer Beth Frey, Circe Films
Story consultant Dr Ahmad Sarmast
Camera Stephen Amis
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