A rare inside account of the tyranny of the Taliban and its impact on Afghan women hits screens this week.
Produced by actress Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games) and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Bread & Roses, a feature-length documentary shot using smartphones, immerses the viewer in the daily asphyxiation endured by half the population of Afghanistan since the withdrawal of US troops paved the way for the Taliban to seize power.
“When Kabul fell in 2021, all women lost their very basic rights. They lost their rights to be educated, to work,” Lawrence said in Los Angeles.
“Some of them were doctors and had high degrees, and then their lives were completely changed overnight.”
The documentary, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023, was directed by exiled Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani, who reached out to a dozen women after the fall of Kabul.