‘Hava, Maryam, Ayesha - Sahraa Karimi’

This screening takes place in the framework of International Women's Day and the VUB Gender Week.
​​​​​​​On 7 March you can follow an online talk about film, gender and politics in Afghanistan with director Sahraa Karimi. Subscribe here.

Screening and panel discussion on artistic practice as a platform for political change
Hava, Maryam, Ayeshe is the first independent Afghan film entirely shot in Kabul with director, actors, and actresses living in Afghanistan. Three Afghan women from different social background, living in Kabul, are facing a big challenge in their lives. Each of them has to solve her problem by herself for the first time. 
Over the last decade, the film industry in Afghanistan has gained a lot of recognition. The contribution of female directors and staff has been essential to this development. On International Women’s Day film makers Sahraa Karimi, Vida Dena, Rand Abou Fakher and film programmer Mahdieh Fahimi will talk about the importance of women’s participation.

Sahraa Karimi is an Afghan film director who has obtained a PhD in cinema and was the first woman to lead the national Afghan Film Organization. In reaction to the recent developments in Afghanistan following the coup of the Taliban, Karimi fights to protect the rights of Afghan filmmakers and other artists from Taliban oppression and violence, specifically from a female perspective. ​​​​​​​

Rand Abou Fakher is a multidisciplinary artist. Born in Syria, she obtained her studies as a flautist in the National Conservatory of Damascus. Her second short film So We Live was premiered in the international competition of the Berlinale 70th Edition and won various prizes. Her films are based on concepts that are built on anthropological researches that are highlighted due to her experiences as a displaced Arabic woman.

Vida Dena is an Iranian female artist and filmmaker, living and working in Brussels. Born in 1984 in Tehran, she moved to Brussels and in 2015 she obtained a master’s degree in film making at KASK school of arts in Ghent. Vida works with different mediums from drawings to videos on subjects such as migration, identity, censorship, war and injustice. Vida is part of the collectives ‘Comment peut-on être persan?’ and Ciclope. She is currently working on her first long documentary My paper life.

Mahdieh Fahimi was born in Belgium but grew up in Iran. As a young adult, she returned to Belgium and obtained a master's degree in visual arts from LUCA School of Arts in Ghent in 2018. Since then, she has been actively writing and reflecting on film, mainly but certainly not limited to films and creators from the MENA region. 

Programme
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​19:00 – Intro  
19:15 – Screening Hava, Maryam, Ayeshe
20:45 – Discussion with Sahraa Karimi, Vida Dena and Rand Abou Fakher on film as a platform for societal and political change, moderated by Mahdieh Fahimi.
21:30 – End