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Afghan Women Behind the Wheel
Afganské ženy za volantom
Sahraa Karimi / Slovakia / 2009 / 56 min.
In an Afghan court, the testimony of one man carries the same weight as that of two women. When a son is born to a family, even his first teeth are cause for celebration while the birth of a girl is frequently seen as a disappointment. There is very little room for women in a society where inequality between the sexes is based on a manipulative interpretation of the Koran. Consequently, finding a female Afghan driver is the difficult task which the Slovak director of Afghan descent Sahraa Karimi has set for herself. Her document follows the fate of four women between thirty and forty years of age who are all married with children. Three of them want to obtain a driving licence while one of them already makes a living as the driver of a private minibus. Naturally, we learn a lot more about the protagonists thanks to the fact that there is a woman behind the camera, who enters the private spheres of the Afghan women's living rooms and their families. As a result, we obtain information on the role gender plays in the organisation of Afghan society and on the difficult road women there have to follow to become emancipated. How many of them will finish driving school? Should the roads be a male preserve, just like all other public spaces?
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