Phone doc details Afghan women's struggle

LOS ANGELES

A rare inside account of the Taliban authorities' impact on Afghan women hits screens next week with the smartphone-filmed documentary "Bread & Roses."

Produced by actress Jennifer Lawrence and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, this feature-length film immerses the viewer in the daily struggles endured by half the population of Afghanistan since the withdrawal of U.S. troops paved the way for Taliban leaders to seize power.

"When Kabul fell in 2021 all women lost their very basic rights. They lost their rights to be educated, to work," Lawrence told AFP.

"Some of them were doctors and had high degrees, and then their lives were completely changed overnight."

The documentary, which debuted at Cannes in May 2023, was directed by exiled Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani, who reached out to a dozen women after the fall of Kabul.

She tutored them on how to film themselves with their phones, resulting in a moving depiction of the intertwined stories of three Afghan women.

"The restrictions are getting tighter and tighter right now," Mani told AFP on the film's Los Angeles red carpet. And hardly anyone outside the country seems to care, she said.

"The women of Afghanistan didn't receive the support they deserved from the international community."

The documentary captures the first year after the fall of Kabul, including moments of bravery when women speak out.

"You closed universities and schools, you might as well kill me!" a protester shouts at a man threatening her during a demonstration.

These gatherings of women under the slogan "Work, bread, education!" are methodically crushed by Taliban authorities.

Protesters are beaten, some are arrested, others kidnapped.

Slowly, the resistance fades, but it doesn't die: Some Afghan women are now trying to educate themselves through clandestine courses.

Three years after the Taliban fighters seized power from a hapless and corrupt civilian administration, no countries have officially recognized their new government.

For Mani, that rings alarm bells.

Giving up on defending the rights of Afghan women would be a serious mistake and one the West could come to regret, she said. "If we are paying the price today, you might pay the price tomorrow," she said.

"Bread & Roses" begins streaming on Apple TV+ on Nov. 22.