Jennifer Lawrence believes the news doesn’t show enough stories about “women fighting back” against the Taliban.
Jennifer Lawrence believes the news doesn’t show enough stories about ‘women fighting back’ against the Taliban
The Oscar-winner, 32, made the statement as she unveiled her new role as the producer of a documentary charting the lives of females in Afghanistan following its takeover by the group.
Jennifer, who has 15-month-old son Cy with her art gallery director husband Cooke Maroney, 38, told the BBC about the ‘Bread and Roses’ film, which premiere at the Cannes Film Festival: “My heart was beating so fast watching these women defy the Taliban.
“You don’t see this side of the story, women fighting back, in the news every day and it’s an important part of our film and the stories of these women. They currently have no autonomy within their country.
“It is so important for them to be given the opportunity to document their own story, in their own way.”
The documentary was made by Jennifer and her friend Justine Ciarrocchi’s Excellent Cadaver production company and tells of three women in the weeks after the Taliban seized power in 2021 following the withdrawal of US troops, using footage secretly filmed inside the country.
Justine told The Hollywood Reporter about the project: “Jen’s first response was to find an Afghan film-maker and give them a platform.”
Its director Sahra Mani – whose 2018 documentary ‘A Thousand Girls Like Me’ examined a sexually abused woman’s quest for justice – said at its Cannes premiere: “This film has a message from women in Afghanistan, a soft message: please be their voice who are voiceless under Taliban dictatorship.
“Now that women can no longer leave the house without the veil, I thought we should tell their stories.”
Sahra is now living in France and said about the brutality facing the trio of women in the film – who are from different groups who protested against the Taliban takeover – “The way in which their lives have changed under the Taliban is an everyday reality for us. It’s life under a dictatorship, a cruel reality we cannot ignore.”
Tagged in Jennifer Lawrence