by Sahra Mani
Directed by Sahra Mani, Afghanistan and France, 2018, 76 min
When Khatera, a 23-year-old Afghan woman, forces her father to stand trial after a lifetime of sexual abuse, she risks her family, freedom, and personal safety to expose a judicial system that incriminates the very women who seek protection. In a country where the systematic abuse of girls is rarely discussed, Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani presents an awe-inspiring story of one woman’s battle against cultural, familial, and legal pressures as she embarks on a mission to set a positive example for her daughter and other girls like her.
© Bread Roses
Sahra Mani is a multi-award-winning filmmaker. She received her bachelor’s degree in film and master’s degree in documentary filmmaking from the University of Arts London with high distinction. Sahra produces and directs films that have a huge impact on women rights, equality and justice.
As a lecturer at Kabul University, she organized film festivals and training and mentoring opportunities in Afghanistan. Her work as an impact campaign producer raises awareness and promotes action for issues and causes that demand social changes. She was also invited as a juror for several film festivals.
Her first feature documentary,
A Thousand Girls Like Me (2018), about an Afghan woman who opposed the will of her family and the traditions of her country to seek justice for years of sexual abuse from her father, was screened at top film festivals like
HotDocs, Sheffield and
IDFA. It won over 25 awards worldwide; among them are at
Full Frame Film Festival, San Francisco Film Festival, One World Media Award, and
New York Festivals TV & Film winning three Gold Medals. It was aired globally on networks like
BBC Farsi, Aljazeera, Sweden’s
SVT, and Switzerland’s
RTS. More importantly, the film inspired changes on women’s rights in her region.
The film will be followed by a discussion with the director Sahra Mani.
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