Sonita

Dir. Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, TAG/TRAUM/ Intermezzo Films, 91 min, 2015, Germany/Switzerland/Iran

If 15-year-old Sonita had a say, then Michael Jackson would be her father and Rhianna her mother. Sonita is an Afghan refugee living in Tehran. While Sonita’s family hopes to marry her off for a $9,000 dowry, happy-go-lucky Sonita works as a cleaner, goes to school in the refugee camp with other teenage girls, and dreams of becoming a rapper. “Let me whisper to you my words. So no one hears that I speak of selling girls…” Despite the fact that women in Iran aren’t allowed to sing in public, Sonita, armed with rap, starts a holy war against the forced marriage of under-aged girls.

The YouTube clip of Sonita Alizadeh’s song “Brides for Sale” has been viewed more than half a million times. The young musician has become a kind of feminist icon in the West – Sonita has been invited to participate in conferences devoted to women’s rights, and she has captured the interest of MTV, Teen Vogue and The New York Times.

SCREENINGS IN COLLOBORATION WITH
LR 5

SCREENINGS / RIGA, CINEMA K.SUNS

FRIDAY / SEPTEMBER 9 / 21.00
SUNDAY / SEPTEMBER / 19.00