Afghan women with cameras in hand in the exclusive documentary “Bread and Roses”.

Cannes, May 2023: Hollywood star Jennifer Lawrence presents a stunning documentary she produced, but all eyes are on one woman, Zahra Mohammadi. This young Afghan dentist asks the audience of the festival. “Don’t forget the women of Afghanistan.” Next to him is Sahra Mani, director Bread and rosespowerful documentary about the fate of women since the return of the Taliban to power on August 15, 2021.

A year later, with the documentary available on Apple TV+, we can’t help but wonder if the world has forgotten the women of Afghanistan. “The Taliban do what they want with complete impunity,” says the exiled Afghan director. They have banned girls from getting an education (beyond primary school), they have to cover their faces in public and they can no longer work except in some rare and limited areas. They cannot go out without an escort, they are deprived of their rights… I think that the world has already forgotten Afghan women, that’s why we ourselves have to help each other.” Bread and roseswhich follows the fate of three women over the course of a year, is a way to help his compatriots.

“When the Taliban regained power, the women started sending me videos of their daily lives being violently, radically and permanently changed,” explains Sahra Mani. I archived them to keep evidence of what happened. Very quickly I said to myself. we must make a film, tell what no one has seen since the departure of the international community. We taught these women to film and send us their videos.” A dangerous exercise. “Of course, filming is prohibited. The Taliban are totalitarian terrorists, why should we respect their rules? In order to live our lives, we have no choice but to disobey.”

The film opens with Zahra Mohammadi getting engaged, images happily shot on an iPhone the day before the Taliban took over Kabul. His world is then turned upside down. Zahra, who then leads a quiet life as a dentist in the capital, becomes a fierce activist who keeps her clinic running despite the risks and mobilizes anyone brave enough to show up on the streets armed with A4 sheets. on which the words “work, bread, education” are written. Bread and roses also shows the experience of running away with the wife’s family. he films himself in front of a besieged airport before taking refuge in Pakistan. An administrative worker records the heartbreaking moment her colleague had to take down the Afghan flag to replace it with a Taliban flag.

Deprived of a job, this young woman’s life is so limited that she only has the moment to hang her laundry on the roof to breathe fresh air and watch the city live. Zahra Mohammadi is not running away from the Taliban… After her arrest, she was finally released and exiled, and while the situation worsens day by day, Zahra Mani continues to receive videos. “Women always demonstrate, I try to take their voice.” While the Taliban closed down beauty parlors in the summer of 2023, the last place where women could work and meet alone, a new law was passed in March. this time it’s about banning cell phones for all women.

bread and roses By Sahra Mani on Apple TV+.