Finding truth in a mosaic

(E, 91 mins)

Directed by Pietra Brettkelly It’s often an accumulation of tiny details that reveals the truth of a situation. And attention to detail – to the telling moments that others might not see significance in – is one of the sure marks of a good film–maker at work.

Pietra Brettkelly’s fourth feature A Flickering Truth follows the labours and travails of Ibrahim Arify, who has returned to his native Afghanistan from Germany to take on the Sisyphean task of recovering and preserving what is left of Afghanistan’s archive of 35mm film.

With the Taliban having declared their own cultural Year Zero when they came to power in 1996 and successive years in Afghanistan wracked by near constant conflict and turmoil, it’s hardly surprising that there is not much left of Afghanistan’s cinematic history and – at first – not many people who even care.

But as Arify works, singularly melancholy gems from the recent past come to light, as do the stories of their creation and – often – presumed destruction.

What emerges is a mosaic – a fever dream – made from fragments of a country. A Flickering Truth is a tough, intelligent, ambitious and wholly unique film. If you care at all about film, about recent history, or just about the ways in which we tell each other stories, then you won’t soon forget that you have seen it. Hugely recommended. – Graeme Tuckett