Shot in secrecy, Afghan film “Bread & Roses” on horrors confronted by women will get Cannes premiere

By PTI

CANNES: Documentarian Sahra Mani’s “Bread & Roses”, produced by Jennifer Lawrence’s Excellent Cadaver, has dropped on the Croisette the horrors which could be being heaped upon women in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

“Bread & Roses”, which premiered throughout the Special Screenings a part of the 76th Cannes Film Festival, objects collectively tales of Afghan women stopping for freedom, education and employment at grave menace to their lives.

“Bread & Roses” consists of footage and films shot in secrecy in Afghanistan, usually by women themselves.

“The primary purpose of my film,” says Mani, “is to amplify the voice of women activists in Afghanistan…We want to tell the world about their situation.”

“As we set out to make the film, we searched for women who were happy to be in it. Many volunteered,” Mani recounts. “They are surviving against the odds. Life is tough but these women are incredibly brave,” she gives.

The focus of “Bread & Roses” is on three women – two activists in Kabul, and one in a protected dwelling in Pakistan.”They are now all out of Afghanistan but even those that have escaped to safety have someone or the other left behind in the country,” says Mani.

ALSO READ: Martin Scorsese debuts ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ in Cannes to thunderous applause

Mani had been filming in Kabul since 2012.

In 2021, she was on the Venice Film Festival to pitch a film titled “Kabul Melody”, about Afghanistan’s solely music school the place women and boys studied collectively. While she was there, Kabul fell to the Taliban and she or he could not return home.

“My film cannot show even a fraction of what is going on in Afghanistan. I could capture only a small part of the reality,” she says, together with that it’s not empathy that the women of Kabul are looking for.

“I want the world to be in solidarity with them.”

Lawrence was on the stage to present the film along with Mani and Dr Zahra Mohammadi, who choices prominently in “Bread & Roses”.

“Zahra represents all educated and gifted Afghan women, doctors and professionals who have been stopped from working and forced by a totalitarian regime to stay confined within their homes,” says Mani.

Lawrence had seen Mani’s 2019 documentary, “A Thousand Girls Like Me”, at ScorchingDocs Toronto. It was a few youthful Afghan woman seeking justice after having been sexually abused by her father for years. Impressed by the film, Lawrence obtained right here on board to produce “Bread & Roses” with Mani’s agency, Afghan Doc Film House.

The film was completed merely ahead of the Cannes Film Festival.

“We sent the link to the festival at the very last minute and explained why we were late. I was really happy when I learnt that the film had been accepted,” says Mani.

CANNES: Documentarian Sahra Mani’s “Bread & Roses”, produced by Jennifer Lawrence’s Excellent Cadaver, has dropped on the Croisette the horrors which could be being heaped upon women in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

“Bread & Roses”, which premiered throughout the Special Screenings a part of the 76th Cannes Film Festival, objects collectively tales of Afghan women stopping for freedom, education and employment at grave menace to their lives.

“Bread & Roses” consists of footage and films shot in secrecy in Afghanistan, usually by women themselves.googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.present(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

“The primary purpose of my film,” says Mani, “is to amplify the voice of women activists in Afghanistan…We want to tell the world about their situation.”

“As we set out to make the film, we searched for women who were happy to be in it. Many volunteered,” Mani recounts. “They are surviving against the odds. Life is tough but these women are incredibly brave,” she gives.

The focus of “Bread & Roses” is on three women – two activists in Kabul, and one in a protected dwelling in Pakistan.”They are now all out of Afghanistan but even those that have escaped to safety have someone or the other left behind in the country,” says Mani.

ALSO READ: Martin Scorsese debuts ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ in Cannes to thunderous applause

Mani had been filming in Kabul since 2012.

In 2021, she was on the Venice Film Festival to pitch a film titled “Kabul Melody”, about Afghanistan’s solely music school the place women and boys studied collectively. While she was there, Kabul fell to the Taliban and she or he could not return home.

“My film cannot show even a fraction of what is going on in Afghanistan. I could capture only a small part of the reality,” she says, together with that it’s not empathy that the women of Kabul are looking for.

“I want the world to be in solidarity with them.”

Lawrence was on the stage to present the film along with Mani and Dr Zahra Mohammadi, who choices prominently in “Bread & Roses”.

“Zahra represents all educated and gifted Afghan women, doctors and professionals who have been stopped from working and forced by a totalitarian regime to stay confined within their homes,” says Mani.

Lawrence had seen Mani’s 2019 documentary, “A Thousand Girls Like Me”, at ScorchingDocs Toronto. It was a few youthful Afghan woman seeking justice after having been sexually abused by her father for years. Impressed by the film, Lawrence obtained right here on board to produce “Bread & Roses” with Mani’s agency, Afghan Doc Film House.

The film was completed merely ahead of the Cannes Film Festival.

“We sent the link to the festival at the very last minute and explained why we were late. I was really happy when I learnt that the film had been accepted,” says Mani.