There is so much that can be said about Vancouver filmmaker Brishkay Ahmed’s important new documentary, In the Room. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, it’s an imaginative, enlightening, and intensely emotional presentation of the recollections and observations of five Afghan-born women.
As they each share their stories in successive interviews with Ahmed in a room, it’s clear that these women are hugely different from one another. And through these honest and nuanced conversations, they don’t always accord with the binary media representation of Afghan women as either heroes or victims.
This is notwithstanding their astonishing courage in standing up for women’s rights in Afghanistan—or their victimization in having to flee the country.
In the Room is exceptionally well-structured and well-edited, with seamless transitions from one interview subject to the next. In addition, Ahmed makes brilliant use of imagery, Afghan music and old Afghan movie scenes, file footage, photos, and close-ups. All of these elements come together to convey viscerally what’s been lost in Afghanistan since the Taliban first rose to power in the 1990s and again after they recaptured Kabul in 2021.
There is one scene of Afghan Canadian singer and former Kabul TV host Mozhdah Jamalzadah sitting in a chair, speaking over top a large video image of Barack Obama. There’s a reason for this—the Obama administration hosted her singing at the White House. While it marked a milestone in Jamalzadah’s life, it also made her more vulnerable to violent reprisals upon her return to Afghanistan.
In another scene, Miss Afghanistan in the Miss Earth 2003 beauty pageant, Vida Samadzai, is interviewed in front of a mirror with her pageant sash hanging in the frame. She speaks frankly with Ahmed about the reaction of the Afghanistan government, and the toll that competing in this event had on her life.
Ahmed amplifies women’s voices
In the Room will be screened at 2 p.m. on Sunday (October 19) at the Reelworld Film Festival + Summit. I don’t want to spoil the film, so I won’t reveal all the stories. Instead, I’ll highlight thought-provoking comments by one of the women interviewed: the accomplished Afghan Canadian Nelofer Pazira-Fisk.
She has written an award-winning memoir, directed documentaries, and served as a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO. In addition, Pazira-Fisk starred in the film Kandahar, which premiered at the May 2001 Cannes Film Festival and thrust her into the international spotlight.
Pazira-Fisk’s intellect shines through as she discusses why she wore the same red dress and same earrings every time she was being interviewed about Kandahar.
This wasn’t about marketing. Rather, she was intent on conveying the magnitude of oppression taking place in her homeland. By presenting herself in the same way each time, journalists and editors would tire of commenting on her look and amplify her message.
At first, it worked marvellously. But after al-Qaeda’s co-ordinated suicidal attacks on America on September 11, 2001, Pazira-Fisk’s life changed dramatically. The United States and its allies attacked Afghanistan and overthrew the al-Qaeda backed Taliban government led by Mullah Omar. That was followed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which was based on the false pretext that its president, Saddam Hussain, was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. And Pazira-Fisk’s perspective no longer fit the western media storyline.
“What I had to say was not what the people expected,” Pazira-Fisk tells Ahmed in In the Room. “My argument was that first of all, you cannot bomb women out of their burkas. We need education.
“And in order to have education, you need peace,” she adds. “And this is where things started to go differently for me because nobody was interested to hear this narrative anymore.”
Memorable exchanges with Pazira-Fisk
Pazira-Fisk points out that the news media, by its nature, is superficial. They will put someone on a pedestal if their image fits the political mindset in the West.
“Then you are radiant and you are beautiful and you are this and you are that,” she states. “A lot of compliments follow. But the moment that you turn and you criticize those politics—okay, or you try to say this is wrong and this is not right for the local community of that country you know very little about—then they can also just take off that plank that they’ve put you on.”
Ahmed’s exchanges with Pazira-Fisk alone make In the Room a memorable documentary. But there is so much more to the film than this. This includes the Afghanistan-born Ahmed’s revelations about how each of the women in the film had a profound impact on her at some point in her life.
Do yourself a favour—seek it out and hear what they have to say. After doing this, you’ll likely never look upon Afghan women in quite the same way again.
The Toronto Reelworld Film Festival + Summit will present the Ontario premiere of In the Room at 2 p.m. next Sunday (October 19) at the Paradise Theatre (1006 Bloor Street West). For tickets and more information, visit the festival website.
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