‘Hava, Maryam, Ayesha’ to compete at Vesoul filmfest

Iranian-Afghan ‘Hava, Maryam, Ayesha’ has been selected to vie at the 26th edition of the Vesoul International Film Festival (VIFF) of Asian Cinema in France.

Directed by Sahra Karimi, the 86-minute film is a narrative of three women’s lives from different social backgrounds that are facing a big challenge in their lives living in Kabul.

Hava, a traditional pregnant woman whom no one cares about, is living with her father and mother-in-law. Her only joy is talking to the baby in her belly.

Maryam, an educated TV news reporter, is about to get a divorce from her unfaithful husband, but finds out she is pregnant.

Ayesha, an 18-year-old girl accepts to marry her cousin because she is pregnant by her boyfriend who disappears after hearing the news.

Each of them has to solve her problem by herself for the first time.

Arezou Ariapour, Fereshta Afshar, and Hasiba Ebrahimi play the main roles of the flick.

“As a female filmmaker from Afghanistan, I promised myself to be the storyteller of my fellow countrywomen who seek to change their lives in a traditional society. By travelling to many Afghan cities and villages, I found real stories from inside my country about women such as Hava, Maryam, and Ayesha. They are trying not to give in to the imposed patriarchal society. Their decision is a form of resistance to their predetermined life. My goal is to narrate the lives of the women who haven’t had a voice for many years, and they are now ready to change their fate,” Karimi said.

Karimi, the Afghan female film director of the flick, took her first steps as an artist in Iran with filmmakers’ works such as Hamid Jebeli’s ‘White Dream’. She then moved abroad to study cinema and filmmaking.

Launched in 1995, the VIFF of Asian Cinema (Festival international des cinémas d'Asie) is an annual special-interest film festival focusing on the cinemas of Asia.

The 26th edition of the VIFF of Asian Cinema is slated for February 11 to 18, 2020.

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MG/MG