HADIAS DOCUMENTARY

Hi, my name is Clara and I'm fundraising for myself and Hadia to do our documentary:

Hadia is the story of a 22-year-old a student and women's rights activist. The Taliban deprived her of her life on 15th of August 2021. Consequently, Hadia was forced into hiding, facing both threaths of forced marriage and phases of actual starvation. Constantly moving from one hideaway to another, Hadia ended up living in the same roof as the Taliban who were actively lookig for her. In addition to Hadia's personal experience, it is the story of two strangers whose destinies meet. A close friendship builds as they fight together to free her from the hell she is forced to live in simply because she is a woman.

Vision

Hadia is a necessary and essential film for the following reasons:

First, it is one of the few documentaries made by a refugee - Hadia has agency in this documentary. She is not only the main character but determines all the material, what is told and how it is portrayed together with me as the director. We had documented our contact and met in person when she gave a TEDx talk in Italy (so she got a one-week visa to go from the refugee camp where she lives to Italy and TedX, but is now back in Pakistan).

Secondly, it is a politically necessary film in times of rising right-wing extremism and populism. Hadia gives a voice and a face to women and girls and to her Generation Z in Afghanistan; she embodies oppression and counters the perception of refugees as numbers in statistics. Geopolitically, the film is of great importance as it portrays the result of the West's ignorance towards the victims of the Taliban and willingness to compromise with the Taliban, whose policies are tolerated.

Thirdly, it gives the audience a philosophical and poetic perspective on the question, "What is freedom?". I filmed Hadia on a swing for the first time in almost two years. And her first visit to the library, where she smelled the books and talked about the book club she founded at university, how half the members were shot dead by the Taliban, and how she wiped her friends' blood off the floor. Her delight at walking freely on the street or reading a book is poignant, to say the least. She speaks, both in her TedX speech and in our interview conversations, about "education as a weapon" and points to precisely the phenomenon on which some philosophical movements, such as Black Liberation Theory, are based: The more knowledge one has, the freer one is. This is also why the Taliban regime has banned women and girls from attending school and getting an education.

Last but not least, Hadia is a charismatic, incredibly funny, educated, intelligent and authentic character. It is hard not to love her and want to know more about what she experiences and has to say.

I am passionate about this film, Hadia and the subject - 200%. Partly because I see it as one of my tasks to contribute to a more just world where no one can be oppressed, exterminated and denied access to civil society because of their gender. Another part of me wants to tell and show in pictures what it looks like behind the scenes of a person who needs to flee - what thoughts does this person go through, and what are they exposed to? The West knew what the Taliban takeover would mean and let it happen. Now the West doesn't even have the empathy to ensure that women, most of whom, instead of receiving an education, are now primarily victims of forced marriage, are helped to get out. Hadia and I have been fighting for a year and a half to get her out - to no avail. She has now been evacuated to Pakistan and is living in the same refugee camp she grew up in, for the same reason - the Taliban in Afghanistan 20 years ago. The family was able to move back to Kabul in 2001 and made the same escape again in 2021. History repeats itself. And all that matters geopolitically is money and power at the cost of women like Hadia's life and existence. Hadia's resilience and zest for life are a wonder as she has gone through everything from panic attacks to starvation to suicidal thoughts. She never stops educating herself, hoping and fighting to get out.

Furthermore, my motivation is that I have understood and noticed how difficult and almost impossible it has been to get help (food, for example) or to evacuate Hadia, as no country has been willing to take her in. The xenophobia, hatred, fear and prejudice against people like Hadia must end.

The funds will be used to finance our documentary. Without additional funding, it will face severe problems in being produced.