Hava, Maryam, Ayesha

Directed by Sahraa Karimi

Afghanistan
86'
2019

Out of competition

Cinema Aquila

Movie theater:1

21/11/2021 3:30 pm

Directed by Sahraa Karimi

Screenplay:Sahraa Karimi, Sami Hasib Nabizada

Photography:Behrouz Badrouj

Editing:Mastaneh Mohajer

Set design:Sakineh Gholamali

Costume design:Sakineh Gholamali

Music:Saba Nedaei, Ali Tavakoli

Sound:Asqar Abgoon, Mohammad Reza Delpak

Producer:Katayoon Shahabi, Sahraa Karimi

Production:Noori Pictures(Katayoon Shahabi), Sahraa Karimi

Distribution: Shahabi Katayoon - Noori Pictures

World sales:Noori Pictures - Katayoon Shahabi

Cast: Arezoo Ariapoor, Fereshta Afshar, Hasiba Ebrahimi Ayesha

Three Afghan women from different social background, living in Kabul, are facing a big challenge in their lives. Hava, a traditional pregnant woman whom no one cares about, is living with her father and mother in law. Her only joy is talking to the baby in her belly. Maryam, an educated TV news reporter, is about to get a divorce from her unfaithful husband, but finds out she is pregnant. Ayesha, an 18-year old girl accepts to marry her cousin because she is pregnant from her boyfriend who disappears after hearing the news. Each of them has to solve her problem by herself for the first time.

Born in 1985, Sahraa Karimi comes from the second generation of Afghan refugees in Iran. At the age of fifteen, she played as an actress in two Iranian films which brought her to study cinema in Slovakia and graduated with a PHD of directing. During these years, she has made more than 30 short fictions and documentaries, some of which won numerous awards in international film festivals. After 10 years of making many shorts and documentaries, she returned to Kabul. She made two documentaries there which were successful internationally and were broadcasted through ARTE France and BBC. "Hava, Maryam, Ayesha" is her first feature film which was shot entirely in Kabul with Afghan actors.