How Hollywood got behind my Afghan resistance film
Sahra Mani thought an email from movie star Jennifer Lawrence鈥檚 team was spam. But it was the genesis of a powerful film showing Afghan women resisting Taliban rule.
Afghan Sahra Mani found triumph in the most unexpected of ways, despite beginning life on the margins. Sahra grew up scrapping for an education and watching her young friends married off. Novels like Jane Eyre and her camera, a treasured gift from her mother, gave her a creative lifeline. She came to London to chase her dreams and study at university, eventually becoming an award-winning, internationally-recognised documentary filmmaker. Sahra went on to work as a university professor in Kabul.
In August 2021 Sahra was abroad, visiting her dying mother. On the same night Sahra said her final goodbye, the Taliban captured her beloved city. Unable to return, Sahra channelled her sorrow by helping women stuck under their harsh new reality. She began collecting footage of Afghan women resisting Taliban rule. Things felt bleak and that鈥檚 when Hollywood star Jennifer Lawrence reached out to ask if she could support her to make a film. Soon Malala Yousafzai joined them and an alliance was formed. Their film Bread and Roses can be watched on Apple TV.
Presenter: Sophia Smith Galer
Producer: Sarah Kendal
Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp 44 330 678 2707
(Photo: Malala Yousafzai, Jennifer Lawrence, Justine Ciarrocchi and Sahra Mani at the premiere of their documentary Bread and Roses. Credit: Getty Images)
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