What Tomorrow Brings

The 19th Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London came to a packed out cinema 3 at the Curzon Soho this Saturday with a showing of 'What Tomorrow Brings' - one of 15 films showing and one of 12 films premiering in the UK at the festival.

Film-maker Beth Murphy shares that the film is a work in progress and there are some holes in the story left to fix but apart from the obvious story jumps, and a rough-around-the-edges audio edit, you wouldn't necessarily know it. I was particularly impressed by the coverage of so many conversations that were captured by leaving a radio-mic attached to contributors for long periods of time but not necessarily being directly at their side, allowing us to witness some deeply personal moments that perhaps would not have been possible with a camera in their face. Beth spent time in Kabul, Afghanistan between 2009 and 2014, following the progression of several central characters at the Zabuli school for girls in the Deh-Subz district, whilst staying with it's founder, Razia Jan, during production. She shared with me that she was careful not to draw attention to the fact that she was American during her stay in Kabul, after all, the years of US intervention are officially over in Afghanistan - but is that the end of foreign intervention, or is there more to be done?

bepositive.org.in - Zabuli School

The film moves from being charming and inspirational to being heartbreakingly moving. The teachers in the school are extremely committed to their cause of providing education to Afghan girls, in the hope that they will in turn take hold of their own futures, rather than have them decided by forced marriages and conflict. Since victory was declared over the Taliban the number of girls in education has risen from just 5,000 to over 2million - but that's still not enough, only equating to half of the female population of girls who should be granted the same right.

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There are several central characters that move us as an audience. Two in particular stand out. Rahila's father is the mayor of the district and therefore holds much influence over the towns menfolk who are responsible for giving their daughters permission to attend school. Rahila is 18 when she enrols at the school, by the next scene she is 23 and has been in and out of the school over the years. Her absence includes the story that she had been forcibly engaged to a 70yr old man and had argued the marriage. She was beaten repeatedly and her nose broken but, like the Malala we have all heard of, she stood up for her right to be educated and returned to school. Filmmaker Beth shares that this does not last, we leave the film with teacher Nazima attempting to persuade her and her family to allow her back to school. She does not return and Beth shares that she will not graduate as part of the first graduation ceremony the school has seen since its opening, later this year.

facebook.com - What Tomorrow Brings

facebook.com - What Tomorrow Brings

The second girl, Pashtana, is just 15 and has been forcibly engaged to her cousin. She expresses many times during cleverly captured discussions in the playground with her friends that she does not want to marry and that she feels depressed - which is odd for someone who is at first presented as the class comedian. She exclaims to her friend who is comforting her, 'I feel happier when I'm with you', as her friend replies, 'I love you too'. The girls have found sanctuary at the school together. Here they are free to create friendships, to laugh and to play and to learn. Forced marriage however, stands in the way of all of that. We meet Pashtana again after she has become so depressed that she tries to poison herself. She is that desperate. We watch as she pleads with her headmaster to allow her back into the school after she has threatened its reputation through her actions. She pleads, 'Please headmaster, school is all I have. Without it I have nothing'. I am sure I won't be the first to admit shedding a tear at her desperation. It is heartbreaking that she must find herself torn between her family duties in marriage and her own education.

dailymail.co.uk - Nazima

The film follows the passion of the teachers who work at the school also. Teacher Nazima is well-respected and loved by the girls and travels two hours to and from school each day to teach. She however, has her own problems too. She is unable to conceive. With pressure from her husbands family, she must leave her job and travel to India for treatment, leaving some hugely emotional goodbyes open to the camera lens. Another moment to admit a few tears rolled down my cheeks witnessing the strength of feeling between students and teacher - she is after all, much more than that for these girls.

The school is a sanctuary, it is a path towards making their own decisions about their lives, rather than having them decided for them. The film reflects this challenge as it journeys into the jeopardy that the girls face by attending school and standing up for their right to be educated. We hear radio reports of attacks on other Kabul girl's schools with water supplies being poisoned and hand grenades being thrown inside. Taliban sympathisers will go as far as killing girls to scare the others away from education.

cnn.com - Razia Jan with Students

The film also reflects the gentle politics of the school's existence in the district, the debates with the village elders over security, over the building of a third floor, over extra classes and over whether to open it to boys too. All carefully mediated by our charming founder Razia Jan. Razia Jan has gained the respect of the men in the village and holds in the balance the future of her school. But she is more than a woman of politics, more than just the founder. She is a role model and a woman that the girls trust sincerely. Another scene that moved me greatly, was when she interrupts a geography class to motivate the older girls, yet to alert them to the challenges that they face. She speaks of meeting a girl called Malala Yousafzai in London, who was shot by the Taliban for standing up for her education, 'she was shot because she stood up for her right to learn and to laugh', 'no-one has the right to deny you your education' she encourages. Later she speaks to the 15yr old girl who tells her of her fear of being forced to marry her cousin whilst crying. Razia takes out money and gives it to her to give to her parents to delay the marriage. As she thanks her and leaves, Razia sheds a tear. More than once her human nature exceeds her role as a founder and as a mentor and the film is eternally moving for it.

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The film is a triumph for the cause for girls education which was talked about further during the Q&A which will follow in a later post. It not only highlights the need for awareness surrounding the ongoing threat to girl's education, in Afghanistan and the surrounding areas, it also recognises that foreign intervention did not stop when the US, UK and France rolled out their tanks - it stops when the promises they made to help rebuild Afghanistan are kept - and part of that, is helping to rebuild the network of education.