The Secret Reading Club Of Kabul

Dreams of Defiance
Rakshana dreams of becoming Afghanistan’s first female president, Dua of writing a world-famous screenplay, and Mahtab of one day competing in Olympic jiu-jitsu. But under Taliban rule, their futures shrink with every new restriction. Barred from education, they meet secretly to read Anne Frank’s Diary and dream about a different future.

The young women secretly film their daily lives on their phones, but tightening surveillance and curfews make the meetings increasingly dangerous. When one of them is targeted by the Taliban, their dream of freedom becomes a plan to escape.

The Secret Reading Club of Kabul gives a voice to women others have spoken for far too long. Directors Shakiba Adil and Elina Hirvonen leave us with an uncomfortable question: how long can the world look away in silence while an entire generation is denied its future?