Sonita (2016)

Directed by

Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami

Genre

documentary film, biographical film

Country

Iran, Germany, Switzerland, United States

Runtime

1h 30m

Rated

6

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 26 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A documentary about a teenage Afghan rapper and refugee living in Iran. It follows her as she uses music to resist her family's plan to sell her into marriage.

intimateurgentinspiringgrittyemotionalhopefuldeterminedheartfelt

What happens

Sonita (Dari: سونیتا) is a 2015 documentary film about Sonita Alizadeh, a 15-year-old Afghan rapper and refugee living in Tehran. The film was directed by Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami and premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the festival's World Documentary Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. Sonita follows Alizadeh, who fled the Taliban in Herat, Afghanistan as a child and is an undocumented refugee, over a three-year period. During the making of the documentary, Alizadeh's relatives attempt to sell her into marriage. Ghaemmaghami intervened by paying them $2,000 to delay the marriage, and later helping Alizadeh to secure a scholarship in the United States. Ghaemmaghami 's interference in her documentary subject's life was controversial. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Starless Dreams (2016)
• Writing on the City (2016)
• Khatemeh (2019)
• Raving Iran (2016)
• آزادی (2016)
• Radiograph of a Family (2020)
• My Stolen Planet (2024)
• Cahier Africain (2016)