Make a movie about Afghan protesters without being in Afghanistan: Goats and Soda: NPR

Sharifa Movahidzadeh is one of the three protesters portrayed Bread & Rosesthe documentary about the Taliban’s policies that restrict women’s rights. The film is now streaming on Apple TV+.

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How do you make a documentary when you can’t film in person – and even hiring a cameraman is risky?

That was the challenge for award-winning Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani, who left the country after the Taliban came to power. Your new documentary, Bread & Rosestakes viewers into the heart of women’s resistance in Afghanistan.

Using a mosaic of cell phone footage stitched together with videos from Mani’s archives, the film tells the story of the women protesting the Taliban’s erasure of women from political and public life. It follows the lives of three activists as they navigate a changing country where they are quickly losing their hard-won rights and freedoms.

Using a mosaic of cell phone footage, videos from Mani’s archives, and clips from cameramen hired to follow the protesters, the film tells the story of the women protesting the Taliban’s erasure of women from political and public life. It follows the lives of three activists as they navigate a changing country where they are quickly losing their hard-won rights and freedoms.

The title, Bread & Rosesis inspired by the protesters’ slogan – Naan, Kar, Azaadi (Bread, Work, Freedom) – and also reflects a phrase used by the early women’s suffrage movement in the United States. The film streamed on Apple TV+ in November.

Since the Taliban came to power in August 2021, they have imposed a number of restrictions on women’s rights and freedoms, including bans on higher education, employment in various sectors, and public and political participation. Women are also prohibited from visiting public baths or parks or traveling long distances without a male guardian.

Despite the restrictions, women in Afghanistan have continued to protest against the Taliban and are part of the only civil resistance remaining in the country. The consequences of such opposition can be dangerous; Many women activists were detained in Taliban prisons, where they were reportedly subjected to torture, ill-treatment and even rape.

Sahra Mani is an Afghan filmmaker best known for her documentary films Thousands of girls like meabout female survivors of sexual abuse in Afghanistan, was released in 2018 and received the Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award the following year. Mani lived and worked in Kabul before the Taliban came to power in 2021 and was a lecturer at Kabul University.

The team behind it Bread & Roses: From left: Executive producer Malala Yousafzai, producers Jennifer Lawrence and Justine Ciarocchi, and director/producer Sahra Mani at the November premiere of the documentary about Afghan women.

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Three years later, the Taliban’s atrocities against Afghan women appear to have disappeared from international headlines. Mani hopes to highlight these activists and their resistance in her film, she tells NPR. (The three main subjects have all now left the country.)

“It would be a grave mistake to forget the Afghan women or ignore the atrocities committed by the Taliban,” she says. “Remember that the September 11 attacks were planned in this region and this very group was involved. “Joining the Afghan women’s resistance is everyone’s responsibility for our shared future.”

Mani spoke to NPR about the film. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

When did the idea for this film come about?

When I lived in Afghanistan (from birth to the Taliban takeover), women were visible everywhere – you saw them in the media, on international platforms, in politics, in the parliament that represented our people. They worked closely with (the president).

When Kabul fell (to the Taliban in August 2021), I saw women leading the protests, chanting for education, the right to work, and resistance to the Taliban dictatorship. I was very amazed at the courage of these women. I wondered where they had been all these years. These were the ordinary women of Afghanistan – young, educated girls and women who represented the country. I was so happy to see them and quickly contacted them to talk to them.

(During the Taliban takeover) I worked for a charity that helped vulnerable Afghan women. Many of the women were the sole breadwinners of their families and had lost their jobs and their rights because of the Taliban. Through the charity I met many women, wonderful, brave women, and sometimes they would send me (phone camera) videos of their daily lives, their challenges and even their battles with the Taliban.

In one video, a group of women chant their slogan “Bread, Work, Freedom” as they confront an armed Taliban fighter who points his gun at them. In another video, a group of masked women filmed themselves spraying anti-Taliban graffiti on the streets of Kabul in the middle of the night.

I have started archiving these videos. Originally I didn’t plan to make a film. The idea was simply to preserve evidence of the women’s movement in Afghanistan. But then Jennifer Lawrence’s team came to me and we came to the conclusion that the world needs to see these videos and the strength of women in Afghanistan.

Was it difficult to get women involved in the documentary?

On the contrary, they were already filming themselves and sharing their experiences with me. They want the world to see what it’s like to live under a dictatorship that prevents you from doing basic things like going to school, working, or even taking a taxi.

Later, when we started working on the documentary, we sought out cameramen in Kabul and taught them how to film (the protesters) safely.

How did you put the film together?

These days, documentary filmmaking offers many options and different ways to tell your story. We used cell phone videos, images with voice-overs, and materials from my archives from my time as a filmmaker in Kabul.

The cell phone videos aren’t always of very good quality, but we found them essential to the storytelling. (They) ensure authenticity. We have supplemented them with the archive videos.

During the last Taliban rule in the 1990s, a video showing the Taliban’s mistreatment of women – including public executions – was repeatedly leaked to the public, shocking the world. Now there is a lot more reporting on the situation in Afghanistan. How does your film contribute to our knowledge of the situation?

This film is documentary evidence of what is happening in Afghanistan, the historical changes.

It wasn’t until Jennifer Lawrence and Malala Yousafzai expressed their willingness to support me as a filmmaker that I realized it could be a more ambitious project. It became increasingly urgent for me to help elevate the voices of Afghanistan’s women and bring them to the larger global platform.

What impact do you hope this film will have?

When people see this film, I want them to be able to feel the experiences of Afghan women, not just the anger and challenges, but also their joy as they help each other or celebrate success.

As a filmmaker, I have tried to use the tool of cinema to advance these stories in the hope that people can identify with the emotions and experiences of these women and express their solidarity. I hope that the viewer can see and feel the experiences of life under the Taliban dictatorship in a way that makes them want to take action, take action, reach out to their local governments and pressure them to recognize gender apartheid in Afghanistan.

I want people to join with Afghan women and pressure the United Nations to hold the Taliban accountable for the crimes they have committed against Afghan women and the Afghan people.

Dr. Zahra Mohammadi, a dentist in Afghanistan, is featured in the new documentary Bread & Roses. She has now left the country.

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What is the single biggest loss for women?

Afghan women have lost so much when the Taliban came to power. From the identities they have built as professionals, educators, politicians, etc., to their basic rights as human beings to learn, sing, talk to other women, and even exist in many spaces. They constantly lose their rights.

As you probably know, the Taliban have issued almost 100 decrees relating exclusively to women’s rights. That’s not normal. This is terrorism and should be accepted by everyone as a normal way of life.

Will the film be shown, discreetly of course, in Afghanistan?

There is a possibility. It’s my distributor’s choice, but Apple TV+ currently offers it in 100 countries. So this is an important step. I also have several (online) workshops and trainings with Afghan students and Afghan girls and will talk to them about the film. I definitely want them to see it too. Because I don’t just see this as a film. For me, this is an extension of the Afghan women’s movement.

Is there a scene that is particularly meaningful to you?

There are so many special and emotional moments, but I remember this one clip where the Taliban used tear gas on the protesters on the street. They started screaming and running. The camera follows the women as they attempt to escape, but (the camera) is turned up (while the cameraman was running) and you can see the trees of Kabul. For a moment all you see are the trees while you hear women screaming and crying.

For me this meant that even the trees were crying in solidarity with the women. For me personally as a Kabulian, it was very emotional that even nature cries with our women.

Ruchi Kumar is a journalist who covers conflict, politics, development and culture in India and Afghanistan. She tweets at @RuchiKumarRuchi Kumar is a journalist who covers conflict, politics, development and culture in India and Afghanistan. She tweets at @RuchiKumar