VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Rothko Chapel is delighted to bring a distinguished roster of outstanding intellectuals, poets, musicians, and journalists to speak and perform during its 2009-2010 season of public programs. All programs are free and open to the public. The Rothko Chapel presents Nelofer Pazira Speaks on Afghanistan: Fact or Fiction.   Afghan-Canadian Filmmaker, Writer, Journalist and Human Rights Activist. Thursday, March 11 at 7pm

Nelofer Pazira (pictured) was born in India and grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan during the Russian occupation of her country. The Paziras fled the war in 1989, when Nelofer was sixteen. After living as refugees in Pakistan for a year, the family migrated to Canada. She obtained a degree in Journalism and English Literature from Carleton University in Ottawa, and completed her MA thesis (Anthropology/Sociology and Religion) at Concordia University, Montreal. She received an honorary doctorate of laws, honoris causa, from Carleton University in 2006.

In 2001, Nelofer stared in Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s ‘Kandahar’ – which was based on her story. She was awarded the “Prix d’ interpretation” by the New Cinema, New Media -- Montreal Film Festival (October 2001) for her role in the movie. In 2002, Nelofer co-directed the feature-length documentary film “Return to Kandahar”, winner of 2003 Gemini (Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political decumbency). She appeared in ‘The Giant Buddhas’ – a film about the destruction of monumental Buddha statues in Bamiyan. She directed and produced “Audition” (2008) an experimental film about images and their impact in Afghanistan. Recently she’s written and directed ‘Act of Dishonour’ – a drama about honour killing and the plight of returning Afghans in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan is her first book. It was awarded The Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize, by Writers Trust of Canada (2006).

As a journalist, she has worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio and Television. She’s written for Sight & Sound (the British Film Institute Magazine), Elm Street, McLeans, The Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Star, The Independent (UK), Panorama (Italy), and El Semanal (Spain).

Since 2006, she has served as the president of PEN Canada, which works on behalf of writers who have been forced into silence for writing the truth as they see it. In addition, she has set up a charity -- “Dyana Afghan Women’s Fund”, in memory of her friend – to provide education and skills training for women in Afghanistan.

She has been a guest speaker at women’s conferences, universities and symposiums, as well as served on a jury at the Locarno, Sao-Paulo, Montreal, and Geneva Human Rights film festivals. Since 2000, she established her own independent film company, “Kandahar Films Inc.”