Film Ireland Presents: Pieter-Jan De Pue, Director of The Land of the Enlightened

Stephen Porzio talks to Pieter-Jan De Pue, the director of the Irish co-production The Land of the Enlightened. A group of Kuchi children are living in a minefield around Bagram airfield, Afghanistan. They dig out old Soviet landmines in order to sell the explosives to child workers in the Lapis Lazuli mine. Meanwhile Gholam Nasir and his gang control the mountains where caravans are smuggling the blue gem stones to the border of Tajikistan and Pakistan.When Gholam’s gang is not guiding the caravans over the frozen rivers, they dream about Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the Americans. Some of them will grow up as soldiers, others will remain with the caravans. But Gholam dreams about marrying and living with his queen in the palace in Kabul. Will Afghanistan have a new king after the foreigners will have returned home?The co-production was produced by Morgan Bushe for Irish production company Fastnet Films together with Savage Film, Submarine, Eyeworks and Gerbrueder Beetz Produktion.http://filmireland.net/Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.So make sure to subscribe and listen back! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.