IDFA 2004
Afghans Don't Flirt
Afghanen flirten nicht
Jochen Frank
Germany
2004
75 min
n.a.
More than thirteen years ago, 35-year-old Suzana Lipovac swapped her well-paid job in Germany for a life as a relief worker. Lipovac, a daughter of Bosnian-Croatian refugees, initially worked in the Balkans for twelve years. For the past eighteen months, she has been running the charity organisation Kinderberg in Afghanistan. She manages some first-aid stations in Kabul, but she prefers to operate in more dangerous areas, where other relief organisations are absent. The documentary follows Lipovac in her attempt to open a new first-aid post in the remote Dashtaq region. Initially, she is not very successful. Hardly anybody shows up at the agreed-upon meeting point on the barren plain. “We don't know which day to be there. For us, every day is Friday.” The question is to what extent this opposition is a result of her being a young, Western, non-Islamic woman.
The film gradually makes clear how this “crisis manager in Kabul,” constantly has to achieve the right balance between the customs of the Afghans and the expectations of her financial backers, in order to continue her work. Alternately at work and in front of the camera, Lipovac elucidates her motives and experiences in the world of humanitarian aid.
Credits
Docs Contact
World Sales
First Hand Films,
Joan Morselt,
Esther van Messel
First Hand Films,
Joan Morselt,
Esther van Messel
Screening copy
Indi Film GmbH
Indi Film GmbH
Director
Production
Co-production
Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg
Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg
Involved TV Channel
SWR
SWR
Screenplay
Cinematography
Editing