MALALA YOUSAFZAI, JENNIFER LAWRENCE AND SAHRA MANI ON THEIR BOLD DOCUMENTARY, BREAD & ROSES
THE ENTIRE WORLD may feel like it’s on fire right now, but it’s still important to examine its hotter corners. One is the plight of women in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the subject of new documentary Bread &Roses from director Sahra Mani, producer Jennifer Lawrence and executive producer Malala Yousafzai, the activist who a decade ago won the Nobel Peace Prize aged just 17. The trio have teamed up to highlight three Afghan women who spoke out against the regime, and Empire met them to discuss the story behind their challenging film.
Sahra, how did you find these Afghan women to tell their story?
Sahra Mani: When Kabul fell to the Taliban, I started working with a charity to support women that had lost their jobs. I met some of these women through that. There is a lot of extrajudicial killing, kidnapping women and illegal detention. Still, women are asking for basic rights, education and work. They were brave enough to not keep silent. They started sending me videos [for] my archive for the women’s movement in Afghanistan. When I happened to be contacted by Jennifer, we decided to start making a documentary.
Jennifer, you and your co-producer Justine Ciarrocchi reached out to Sahra after watching her documentary AThousand Girls Like Me. Malala, when did you come on board?
Malala Yousafzai: I saw an earlier version of the documentary —at that time, I had been advocating for the rights of Afghan women and girls. We’ve been talking about them on these global platforms and trying to bring attention to the systematic oppression of the women and girls in Afghanistan, which Afghan activists are calling out as a gender apartheid. But it’s difficult for people to understand and to connect with these women, and this documentary was so powerful in helping me see what is happening to Afghan women in their day-to-day lives.
Jennifer Lawrence: Malala is also working directly with the UN to change the definition of apartheid to include gender. It’s kind of unbelievable that it doesn’t.
Were the three women the film centres on always going to be the focus of the story?
Mani: We [also] had two women that were mothers. Their story was fantastic but their situation was fragile. With the help of my team, we decided to help them to leave Afghanistan, but we didn’t involve them in the film.
You also have a scene involving very young kids speaking out about the Taliban’s oppression of women, which is inspiring and devastating.
Lawrence: Oh, it was one of the most heartbreaking scenes for me as well.
Mani: Jennifer cries each time we [talk ab
