Sonita

This screening took place on Sunday, November 27, 2016 at 6:00 pmYukon Arts Centre

Sonita is a 14-year-old Afghan refugee living in the poor suburbs of Tehran who fights to live the way she wants, as an artist and musician, in spite of her conservative patriarchal family. When circumstances conspire against her and she’s destined to be sold into marriage, our increasingly empowered heroine discovers her true voice as an activist. Sonita is also the story of the Iranian filmmaker Ghaem Maghami, whose determination not to intervene and let the story unfold organically is routinely challenged by the unfair obstacles the young rapper is confronted with as she desperately attempts to escape her fate. Consequently, few documentaries are this tense, with Sonita facing life-altering decisions at every turn. She persists despite unthinkable odds and finds her true voice as an activist who refuses to be silenced. In Persian, Dari and English with English subtitles. “Sonita puts a defiant face and expressive voice to a resistance that needs to be as loud as possible.”—Nick Allen, RogerEbert.com Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award, Sundance 16; Audience Award, IDFA 15