Join us for a special Festival Launch Night tonight with the outstanding feature Sonita and the amazing short Wrestling Cholita! These films will wet your appetite for tomorrow’s Festival Opening Night!
Feature Film: “Sonita”
2015 Germany / Duration: 90 mins / Directed by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
In many ways, Sonita is like any other teenage girl: She loves music, dreams of being famous, and giggles and jokes with her friends. But Sonita, who grew up in a strictly Muslim household in Afghanistan before fleeing to Iran with her sister, faces challenges no young woman should have to experience. Her mother would like to sell her as a bride to a much older man in a tradition of forced marriage that has long trapped young Afghan girls in a cycle of oppression, forced domesticity and dashed ambitions.
Despite the pressures exerted by her family, home country and culture, Sonita doesn’t give in. Instead, she mounts a campaign of music and hope against child brides, dreams big and — with the help of unlikely allies — works hard to forge a new destiny for herself.
Sonita, a film by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, offers a triumphant portrait of a modern-day hero who risks it all to create a better life for herself — and for all Afghan girls.
Opening Short Film: “Wrestling Cholita”
2016 United Kingdom / Duration: 9 mins / Directed by Harri Grace
In Bolivia, the indigenous Cholita women are easily recognized by their bowler hats, pollera skirts and plaited braids. Cholitas have long been mistreated in this South American country, but that’s changing, thanks to anti-discrimination legislation and new progressive politicians. It’s also thanks to individuals like Teresa Huayta, the wrestling Cholita. This diminutive woman is a force of nature in the ring, proving with each match that it’s a badge of pride — not a mark of shame — to be a Cholita.
