Writing Hawa

Filmed over five years, Writing Hawa is the story of three generations of Hazara women from the same family in Afghanistan. With unique access and empathy, director Najiba Noori films her mother Hawa and her niece Zahra in their aspirations to emancipate themselves from patriarchal traditions. Forty years after her arranged marriage as a child to a man 30 years her senior, Hawa has made the decision that now is the time for her to learn how to read, write, and start her own business. She eventually saves her granddaughter Zahra from her abusive father in a remote village and brings her to the capital. There, they study together and make plans for the future. However, the takeover by the Taliban in August 2021 turns the lives of the three women upside down.