Film Information
Year: 2024
Duration: 106
Language: VOSE
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis
Freshta and her family are Hazara, an ethnic group in central Afghanistan who have suffered centuries of state persecution and genocide. Zahra, her older sister, disappeared a few weeks before her graduation from Kabul University, after her thesis on the local “Kamay” plant was rejected multiple times by her professor. Guided by the words and questions that a grieving Freshta asks herself about her sister, we follow the family’s fight for justice. Unfortunately, their inquiries are obstructed, and Zahra’s fate merges with that of many Afghan women. The grey skies of Kabul contrast with the beauty of the high mountain peaks, which echo with the song Freshta sings for her sister.
Director
Ilyas Yourish is an Afghan filmmaker and producer currently based in Brussels, Belgium. He graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Kabul University and has been working as a researcher, journalist, and filmmaker since 2011. He has travelled extensively through Afghanistan over the past decade and has been involved in several research and media projects in Afghanistan, which places him at the cradle of contemporary, Afghan cinema. In 2021, he founded the production company Kamay Film, based between Kabul and Belgium. His documentary Kamay (2024), co-directed with Shahrokh Bikaran, has received fair international recognition, earning several awards and nominations, including a nomination for Best Documentary at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Shahrokh Bikaran is a director, producer, composer, and sound designer. Born in Afghanistan, he graduated from Tehran Film School in 2016 in Directing. He also studied sound engineering at Tehran Technical and Vocational University. Shahrokh participated in the production of nearly 10 films as a composer, sound designer, and sound engineer. He began his artistic career with experimental music as a teenager, when he was a refugee in Iran.
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