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Bread & Roses, a documentary about the oppression - and strength - of women in Afghanistan from filmmaker Sahra Mani, and produced by human rights activist Malala Yousafzai and Hollywood star Jennifer Lawrence, will be heading to Apple TV+ on June 21, 2024.
The film focuses on the stories of three women, Sharifa, Zahra and Taranom, living under Taliban rule after US troops withdrew from the country in 2021.
"Closing girls' schools in Afghanistan is not just a matter of feminist concern, rather it is a matter of international security. The Taliban recognises that the children of educated mothers are difficult to indoctrinate, and are less susceptible to becoming their future soldiers," Sahra says. "Ensuring that girls' schools remain open in Afghanistan is crucial for the preservation and safety of our entire world."
The documentary aims to get us all of us talking about the situation in Afghanistan where girls have been locked out of schools for over 900 days and women have been banned from universities for almost 500.
In a recent interview with The Guardian about the film, Malala powerfully asks, "It is a reality that breaks your heart. Why is there silence?"
She says it's up to each of us to create change: "I think it's the job of the people to hold their leaders to account and put more pressure on them. So I hope that people will begin to question their representatives and ask them what they have been doing. What do they mean when they say they're committed to gender equality - those nice fancy words - when they don't take any action to protect women's rights and girls' education in Afghanistan?"
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Speaking to the publication, Jennifer Lawrence says she's also hoping Bread & Roses will galvanise people into action: "Storytelling is the soul of any activism. Hopefully, this movie, made by Afghan women, through their perspective of this moment, will mean it's not just a flash of a story in a pan. It is a resistance happening right now. These women need the world to witness this so that they are not suffering in vain..."
Justine Ciarrochi is also a co-producer on the documentary.
(Feature Image Credits: Malala Yousafzai photo by Bruce Glikas/WireImage via Getty Images; Jennifer Lawrence and Sahra Mani photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
