Writing Hawa by Afghan filmmaker Najiba Noori and co-directed by Rasul Noori is about to world premiere within the international competition on the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) on Nov. 17. Now, a primary trailer reveals a primary have a look at the documentary a few 52-year-old woman in Afghanistan who, after her arranged marriage, is trying to emancipate herself.
“Filmed over five years, Writing Hawa is the story of three generations of Hazara women from the identical family in Afghanistan,” says an outline of the doc. The Hazaras are an ethnic group within the country.
“With unique access and empathy, director Najiba Noori movies her mother Hawa and her niece Zahra of their aspirations to emancipate themselves from patriarchal traditions,” the synopsis explains. “Forced into marriage as a baby, Hawa is 52 years old when she will be able to truly start learning to read and write. With the support of her daughter, she opens a small textile business: she searches for traditional Hazara embroideries within the Bamiyan region and turns them into modern dresses to sell in Kabul.”
Hawa eventually saves her granddaughter from her abusive father in a distant village and brings her to the capital. Nevertheless, the takeover by the Taliban in August 2021 turns the lives of the three women the other way up.
“War, violence, the shortage of access to education, and compelled marriages have plagued and victimized countless Afghan women for a long time,” says director Noori. “My mother’s dreams were stolen, and she or he has spent years housekeeping and raising children, but she never lost her curiosity and motivation to learn and experience life. Hawa is blessed with unconditional love for and from her children, gaining the real support of her sons to be educated, empowered, and free.”
She adds about her film: “It shows Afghanistan before and after their arrival when the country falls into the hands of a terrorist group who’s erasing women from society.”
Writing Hawa was produced by Christian Popp for Tag Film, co-produced by Hasse van Nunen and Renko Douze for Een van de jongens, in association with ARTE France and EOdocs, with the support of CNC, Sundance Film Institute, Doha Film Institute, IDA, Catapult Film Fund, Procirep/Angoa, Docs Up Fund, Madre, FilmAid, and Women Make Movies. First Hand Movies represents the film and for international distribution outside of the production countries.
“I’m fed up with staying at home on a regular basis,” Hawa is shown saying within the trailer before a scene shows her learning to jot down her own name. Meanwhile, her daughter lauds her for “doing her best so I could live a very different life.”
The trailer also shows the filmmaker sharing that “I had five minutes to make a call” when the Taliban took over, while her mother has some alternative words to share.
In 2023, the Armenian war documentary 1489 by director Shoghakat Vardanyan won one of the best film prize at IDFA. This 12 months’s edition takes place Nov. 14-24.
Take a look at the trailer for Writing Hawa below.
