Writing Hawa

Forced into marriage as a child, Hawa learns to read and write at 52. With the support of her daughter, the filmmaker, she opens a small textile business. But when the Taliban return to power, Hawa’s dreams, and those of her daughter and granddaughter, are shattered as they face new struggles.

Filmed over five years, this is the story of three generations of Hazara women from the same family in Afghanistan. With unique access and empathy, director Najiba Noori films her mother Hawa and her niece Zahra in their aspirations to emancipate themselves from patriarchal traditions.

Hawa builds a small trade, finding beautiful traditional Hazara embroideries in the Bamiyan region and turning them into modern dresses to sell in Kabul. She saves her granddaughter Zahra from her abusive father in a remote village and brings her to the capital. There, they study together and make plans for the future. When the Taliban return in August 2021, it turns the lives of the three women upside down. Zahra has to return to the village she escaped from, and Najiba, the filmmaker and Hawa’s daughter, is forced to flee the country to France. From afar, she helps Hawa continue fighting for her dreams.