National Geographic All Roads Film Project

The National Geographic All Roads Film Project recognizes and supports talented indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture photographers from around the globe who are documenting their changing worlds. The program provides a forum for photographers to showcase their work to a global audience through festivals, exhibitions, panel discussions, and workshops. The awardees of this year’s program presents a wide-range of stories from their part of the globe. These photographers represent a new generation of storytellers — each with powerful images and unique perspectives that reveal fascinating stories about their own cultures. This year’s awardees are Alejandro Chaskielberg (Argentina), Rena Effendi (Azerbaijan), Khaled Hasan (Bangladesh), and Farzana Wahidy (Afghanistan).

Alejandro Chaskielberg of Argentina photographs local and Paraguayan inhabitants in the islands near Buenos Aires, capturing the new culture that is forming there because of unemployment and immigration. Emerging Afghan photographer Farzana Wahidy offers a rare glimpse into the lives of Afghan women and the view of the world through a veil. Bangladeshi Khaled Hasan intimately captures the hard-working community of Jaflong’s stone crushing industry – what these workers must do to survive is also destroying their environment. Azerbaijan’s Rena Effendi vividly captures the vanishing way of life in Khinaliq, a small village whose unique culture is threatened by the construction of luxurious ski resort nearby.