Snow Monkey
Eager to place himself in the path of the war machine, Australian artist George Gittoes recruits gangs of war-damaged children in one of Afghanistan’s most violent cities to shoot local Pashto-style films.
For almost 50 years, activist artist George Gittoes (LOVE CITY, JALALABAD) has stood on the frontlines of the world’s most brutal conflicts and borne witness to the best and the worst of humanity. Now living in Afghanistan’s remote Jalalabad province, Gittoes turns his attention to the lives of the children and outcasts of this war-torn land as IS make violent inroads into the Taliban infested area.
In SNOW MONKEY, Gittoes paints a portrait of a Jalalabad seething with humanity, adversity and hope – focusing on three gangs of children: the Ghostbusters, persecuted Kochi boys who hawk exorcisms of bad luck and demons; the Snow Monkeys, who sell ice cream to support their families; and the Gangsters, a razor gang led by a nine-year-old antihero called Steel, terrifying to the core but still capable of experiencing aspects of the childhood seemingly taken from him.
With a deeply humane vision that won him the Sydney Peace Prize, Gittoes shows us the unseen nature of Afghanistan’s politics, culture and society, up close and startlingly personal.
Technical Specifications
Year 2015
Length 148 min, 90 min
Languages Pashtu, Arabic, English
Production companies Gittoes Films, Unicorn Films, Co-production Piraya Film
Production countries Australia, Norway
Format DCP
World Premiere IDFA 2015
Website https://www.unicornfilms.com.au/projects/snow-monkey/
IMDB https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4968400/
Awards
Biografilm Festival 2016, Audience Award
Salem Film Fest 2017: Special Jury Winner
Best Feature Length Documentary AACTA 2016: Nominee
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2016: Nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film
Sheffield Doc Fest 2016: Youth Jury Award Nominee
Festivals
2017
Gdansk DocFilm Poland
Docs Against Gravity
2016
Rio Film Festival
This Human World Film Festival
Syracuse International Film Festival
Biografilm Festival
Doc Cevennes France
Vancouver Internation Film Festival
2015
IDFA: In Competition for Feature-length Documentary
MIFF: A work-in-progress Australian Premiere
