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Sonita

A film by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami

Synopsis

Sonita, a teenager, is a talented rapper and an indomitable force, in spite of all her obstacles she confronts in Iran and her conservative family. She is, however, an undocumented Afghan refugee in Tehran, and her family has other plans for her. In this gripping documentary, her dream of living abroad is about to come true just as her family plan on sending her back home to get married to a much older man who will give them a lump sum of money, which would allow Sonita's brother to find a bride. While she must now attempt to overcome numerous personal and bureaucratic hurdles to avoid what seems inevitable, the film's director, Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami is also confronted with a dilemma: should she interfere to help her or let things unfold in front of her eyes and of the camera?

Sundance Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award (World Documentary)

Audience Award and Doc U Award (Youth Jury), IDFA 2015

Youth Jury Award, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2016

AVAST Foundation Audience Award, One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

IndieMusic Award, IndieLisboa

Audience Award, One World 2016


Where It's On

Available to rent or download from
iTunes
Amazon Video
Available to rent from
Curzon Home Cinema
Pre-order the DVD from
Verve
Amazon

Trailer

Director — Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami

Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami was born in Tehran and studied filmmaking and animation in Tehran Art University. Her published essays and research include the book, “Animated Documentary: A New Way to Express,” published in Persian in 2009. Her short documentary works include Pigeon Fanciers (2000), A Loud Solitude (2010), Born 20 Minutes Late (2010), Going Up the Stairs (2011), and the animated documentary Cyanosis (2007).

Filmography

Feature-length Documentaries
2015    Sonita

Short Documentaries
2000    Pigeon Fanciers
2007   Cyanosis
2010   A Loud Solitude
2010   Born 20 Minutes Late 2011  Going Up the Stairs: Portrait of an Unlikely Iranian Artist

Cast & Credits

A FILM BY Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
WITH Sonita Alizadeh
PRODUCER Gerd Haag
CO-PRODUCERS Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, Aline Schmid
CREATIVE PRODUCER Kerstin Krieg
EDITOR Rune Schweitzer
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Behrouz Badrouj, Ali Mohammad Ghasemi, Mohammad Haddadi
Arastoo Givi, Torben Bernard, Parviz Arefi, Ala Mohseni
SCORE MUSIC Moritz Denis
MUSIC LAYOUT Guillaume Wuhrmann
ORIGINAL SONGS BY Sonita Alizadeh, Sepandarmaz Elahi Shirazi
LINE PRODUCER GERMANY Cornelia Kellers
LINE PRODUCER IRAN Morteza Ebrahimi, Hosein Beshgard
LINE PRODUCER AFGHANISTAN Ghodsieh Shahnematollahi, Sahra Karimi
LINE PRODUCER SWITZERLAND Catherine Muller
COMMISSIONING EDITORS NDR/arte: Claudia Cellarius; RTS Radio Télévision Suisse,
Unité des films Documentaires: Irène Challand, Gaspard Lamunière;
SRG SSR: Sven Wälti, Gregory Catella
A PRODUCTION BY TAG/TRAUM
IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH INTERMEZZO FILM,
ROKHSAREH GHAEM MAGHAMI,NDR, RTS
Radio Télévision Suisse, SRG SSR, DR
IN CO-OPERATION WITH arte
FUNDED BY Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, BKM,
Bundesamt für Kultur (EDI), Cinéforom
und Loterie Romande, Chicken & Egg Pictures,
IDFA Bertha Fund
SPECIAL THANKS TO The Asian Pitch Commissioners,
Public Television Service Foundation,
Korean Broadcasting System
© TAG/TRAUM – INTERMEZZO –
ROKHSAREH GHAEMMAGHAMI 2015
91 minutes Cert PG

Images

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The Critics

★★★★★

"Triumphant documentary...Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami’s absorbing portrait of a refugee in Iran is endlessly surprising..."
Nigel M. Smith, The Guardian

★★★★
"A warm, uplifting but often challenging film – a compelling human drama packed with searching questions about artistic responsibility and the nature of charity."
Tom Huddleston,Time Out

★★★★

"This affecting documentary follows the fortunes of an Afghan teenager living in exile whose family want to sell her into marriage…the kid is a force of nature, and it’s impossible not to be swept along by the powerful tide of her story."

Leslie Felperin, The Guardian

★★★★

"Sonita wants to be a rapper. No other medium could contain the quantity and rush of her lyrics — about voting, about pitiless fathers, about the threat of an old and strange husband. “I’m like a sheep grown/on whom others will dine” she sings, rocking, while the engineers in the Tehran recording studio look on nervously."

Antonia Quirke, The Financial Times

★★★★

"An Afghan teen uses rap to attack the practice of selling daughters into marriage in this powerful documentary… Profile of an irrepressible wordsmith

Jonathan Romney, The Observer

★★★★
" Inspiring and disturbing."
Kate Muir, The Times

"The film is at its most complicated during the interventions made by Ghaemmaghami into the action. Off-screen voices warn her that she shouldn’t interfere but she makes no pretence of editorial impartiality...Ghaemmaghami could be accused of steering the action to make a stronger film but her attempt to save Sonita from being married off is far more important than that."

Ryan Gilbey, The New Statesman

"This extraordinary documentary could almost be a work of fiction."

Steve Rose, Guardian Guide"Inspiring…a certified crowdpleaser...Sonita is engaging, articulate, intelligent and wholly admirable in her audacious campaigning against forced marriage in particular and misogynistic Islam in general…""
Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter

"SONITA is the deftly done story of a young Afghan woman in Tehran who dreams of rap stardom while her family plans to sell her as a bride."
Kenneth Turan, LA Times

"Everyone falls in love with Sonita in this film…"
Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily

“Maghami is such a skilled, aware filmmaker that her action, beyond its obvious humanitarian value, falls into a glorious tradition of meta-filmmaking in Iranian cinema - it immediately conjured Abbas Kiarostami’s Close-Up."
Erin Teachman, DC Metro Theater Arts

Bookings & Press

For film bookings please contact Colin Burch at Verve Pictures — [email protected]. Press resources are on the Press page.