Soundtrack to War

A wild and funny documentary showing how the progressive youth of Afghanistan are rejecting the use of armed force and see film production as an alternative means of bringing peace and social change to their war-torn and occupied country.

Following his film about music and war in Iraq, Soundtrack to War , Producer/ DirectorGeorge Gittoes slices into the mirky underbelly of the Giant Land of the Free. RAMPAGE is another Gittoes journey into the forbidden zones; – America’s war in Iraq, and in it’s own backyard – life in a Miami ‘hood – an exploration of hiphop’s musical innovations, as important as the field s the field hollers, the blue, the blues, and jazz, which also began in the black ghettos, and went on to evolve as major music styles.

The third of George Gittoes Love City trilogy made with actors and crew in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In this third chapter, Ghuty takes her turn in the spotlight. Also a media trailblazer, she hosts a radio call-in show devoted to love stories and song dedications. When two star-crossed lovers use her show to tell their tragic tale, her ratings take-off. Their story takes on additional significance for her, as she pursues love with Zaki, a fixer working with the American military, against her parents’ wishes.

The first of George Gittoes Love City trilogy made with actors and crew in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. A young filmmaker falls in love with Jasmin, the daughter of a former mujahedin who happens to own Love City, a Jalalabad wedding hall, but he opposes their love match. Eventually true love wins out.

The second of George Gittoes Love City trilogy made with actors and crew in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In the second film the focus shifts to Jasmin’s older sister Asma, who is studying in Peshawar with her Afghan-American friend Ghuty. Unfortunately they are kidnapped by Taliban terrorists while returning home from the wedding. Enlisting the help of Karim, a reputedly mobbed-up restaurateur, her father orchestrates their rescue. Unfortunately Asma falls for Karim in the process, forgetting about cousin Ikram, who has long carried a torch for her. Of course, getting involved with the wrong sort of man is exponentially worse in Afghanistan. However, Asma is not without her own resources. As the host of a groundbreaking issue-oriented talk show, she has a forum to challenge the caddish and corrupt Karim.

George Gittoes’ latest film focuses on South Side Chicago, with worse gun violence statistics than any active war zone of the last two decades.

An anti-war film in the tradition of Pablo Picasso’s Guernica as well as John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’, the candid and powerful Ukraine Guernica – Artist War takes us behind the battle lines and into the lives of the artists confronting Russia’s march on Ukraine and Afghanistan following the withdrawal of foreign forces. From the ashes of unspeakable tragedy and destruction, new creative works are born, including projects completed at the former House of Culture in Irpin, Ukraine, and at the Yellow House Art School in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

For almost 50 years, activist artist George Gittoes 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, Taliban-infested Jalalabad province, Gittoes turns his attention to the lives of the children and outcasts of this war-torn land. 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.

The Australian maverick director George Gittoes travels to Terror Central in Pakistan, where he decides to shoot a local Pashto telie film (high on kitsch and machine guns) right under the nose of the Taliban’s anti-entertainment forces. He throws himself into the clash of fundamentalism and entertainment – virtual and real – in this off-beat docu-drama mix. Gittoes takes us on a surprising, terrifying journey, into the forbidden zones of Pakistan’s explosive North West Frontier. Is it a documentary or is this ‘war art’?

George Gittoes wrestles the camera off the great showman to discover just who George Gittoes is and what his work means to the world.

In 2010, renowned Australian artists George Gittoes and Hellen Rose established the Yellow House in Jalalabad, Afghanistan - a sanctuary for artistic expression amidst conflict. This documentary chronicles their return to the Yellow House in 2024 under Taliban rule, aiming to demonstrate that "where war fails, art wins."