Ban This Series: Documentaries from the seven countries included in the travel ban enacted by executive order on January 27, 2017.
A teenaged Afghan refugee living in Tehran, the fiery and bright Sonita dreams of being a famous rapper—but women aren’t allowed to sing in Iran, and her parents have a different future in mind for their daughter: selling her into forced marriage. This Sundance prize-winner and Hot Docs audience favourite follows Sonita as she doggedly makes an impressive rap video against child marriage (now nearing one million views online) and fights the sexist institutional practices holding her back. Making things interesting, she does so with the help of the director Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, stirring up provocative questions about the relationship between filmmaker and subject.
Sonita’s music teacher and mentor Roham Maher will participate in a post-screening Q&A.