On Sunday, (May 21), there was a special screening of the new documentary “Bread and Roses”, directed by Sahra Mani, at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie is produced by Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence and her producing partner Justine Ciarrocchi.
The documentary gives an emotional look into the lives of women in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. After a long time under American occupation, the nation fell to the Taliban group which quickly stripped women off of basic rights. They took away simple freedom rights such as the ability to work or appear in public without a male and receive an education.
Jennifer Lawrence explained to Variety “It all just collapsed and a matter of days” later on she said “I was watching this from America, where Roe v. Wade was about to be overturned. We felt helpless and frustrated with how to get these stories off of the news cycle and into people’s psyches. To help people be galvanized and care about the plight of these women.”
During the premiere Sahra Mani explained that “This film has a message from women in Afghanistan, a soft message; please be their voice who are voiceless under Taliban dictatorship,”.
In an interview on the Cannes website Mani explained that she wanted to show the horrifying reality of how the women's lives in Afghanistan changed under the Taliban rule. She said: “Now that women can no longer leave the house without the veil, I thought we should tell their stories,”.
Now the documentary “Bread and Roses” is for sale out of the Cannes film market. Jennifer Lawrence and Justine Ciarrocchi hope that the movie will be distributed worldwide since this is a relevant matter that needs to be talked about. Lawrence commented that “There is not much separating us from these other countries,”, later on she continued “Democracy is all we have, and it’s sliding back. We have to keep our eye on the ball, which is individual freedoms.”
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Credit: Festival de Cannes