Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

It’s August, 2021 in Kabul Afghanistan. The Taliban is at the city gates and large crowds are congregating at the airport. Some manage to get out, but the women who remain face unheard of restrictions imposed by the Taliban. Restrictions in dress, education, work and general daily life: there’s no school after grade 6, women barred from universities, government work and from most professions, along with freedom of speech, expression, and even  congregating in public… leaving some women virtually locked away in their rooms.

In the Room is a new NFB documentary about a group of dynamic ex-pat Afghan women who don’t fit neatly into their stereotypes. We meet a model, a TV news chief,  an influencer and an actor and activist, in this unusual doc. The film is by noted Canadian documentarian Brishkay Ahmed whose work has frequently taken her back to the country of her birth. She’s known for her films In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland, Story of Burqa. The film won the Audience Award Showcase  at its premiere at VIFF in Vancouver and played at the Reelworld film festival Toronto.

I spoke with Brishkay in Vancouver via Zoom.

Beginning on Tuesday, November 25, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) will release In The Room for free streaming across the country on nfb.ca and the NFB app.