90 minutes
Directed by: Virginia Williams
New England Premiere

Screening Supported by Women In Film & Video/ New England

Dari, Pashtu, and English w/ English subtitles

In 2004, Afghanistan held its first ever public democratic elections. Seventeen candidates challenged interim president Hamid Karzai; among them was one woman, Dr. Massouda Jalal. A 42-year-old pediatrician and teacher, Jalal had placed a distant second behind Karzai in a 2002 emergency election. Coming only three years after the Taliban government's collapse, Jalal's courageous, uphill battle of a campaign evokes the social reform slowly starting to shape a nation undergoing massive change and unrest.

Running on a platform promoting "life and hope", Jalal insists she is not a woman rights candidate, but a pacifist who will serve as a mother to her war-plagued country. The film shows us the similarities inherent between Jalal's and any other politician's quest for the people's support, particularly in how shrewdly she develops her public persona in the media with the help of political advisors. However, the cultural backdrop is worlds away from what we see in films like THE WAR ROOM. Jalal faces the challenges of being a woman in an Islamic Republic head-on as she deals with police tearing down her campaign signs, her country's war refugees and a mostly illiterate, uninformed populace. Although the election itself is nearly derailed by scandal and ineptitude regarding voting procedures, Jalal's optimism and tenacity sets her apart from her peers-you sense she emerges victorious regardless of how many votes she wins.

-Chris Krioske