20.07.09/hh - «Reforming the Media» is the title of the issue No 1/2009 of Media Development. It includes a report by INTERFILM’s honorary member Ron Holloway on recent films from and about Afghanistan and an additional report on Afghan documentaries. As a starting point, Ron Holloway reminds us of an iconoclastic attack of the Taliban regime arousing world wide consternation. When the giant Buddha on the Silk Road at Bamyan were destroyed by radical Taliban clerics in March 2001 in accordance with a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, even the Afghan populace was stunned by the disrespect for their own cultural heritage. Beginning with Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s „Safar é Gandahar” (Kandahar, 2001) a number of films have raised voice against the relapse into barbarism.

The issue No 2/2009 is dedicated to „Environmental Communication“ and contains an article on „Poverty and environment in films set in Africa“ by Pat Brereton (Dublin). In a short overview it frames an analysis of Gavin Hood‘s Oscar winning study of South African poverty in Tsotsi (2006), alongside an overview of Blood Diamond (2007), both of which testify to a growing concern with Africa, while signalling a renewed interest and engagement with environmental and justice issues.

Media Development is published quarterly by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) in Toronto (Canada). It publishes regularly «on the screen» reports on the activities of ecumenical festival juries. Media Development can be subscribed for US$ 40 on www.waccglobal.org.