Sonita (film)

Sonita is a 2015 documentary film about Sonita Alizadeh, a 15-year-old Afghan rapper and refugee living in Tehran. The film was directed by Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami and premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the festival's World Documentary Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award.[1][2][3]

Sonita
Directed byRokhsareh Ghaemmaghami
Written byRokhsareh Ghaemmaghami
Starring
Edited byRune Schweitzer
Music byMoritz Denis
Running time
90 minutes
Languages
  • English
  • Persian
  • Dari

Sonita follows Alizadeh, who fled the Taliban in Herat, Afghanistan as a child and is an undocumented refugee, over a three-year period. During the making of the documentary, Alizadeh's relatives attempt to sell her into marriage. Ghaemmaghami intervened by paying them $2,000 to delay the marriage, and later helping Alizadeh to secure a scholarship in the United States.[4] Ghaemmaghami 's interference in her documentary subject's life was controversial.[5]

Production

Ghaemmaghami met Sonita Alizadeh through a cousin, who introduced the two to each other in the hope that Ghaemmaghami would be able to help Alizadeh meet other musicians. [6]

Critical reception

Writing in Time Out, Tom Huddleston described Sonita as a "warm, uplifting but often challenging film – a compelling human drama packed with searching questions about artistic responsibility and the nature of charity."[7]

In The Guardian, Nigel M Smith gave the film a rating of five stars, commenting, "to witness Sonita’s rise from timid rapper to empowered activist over a three-year span is thrilling."[8]

References
  1. "Sonita, the remarkable story of a teen Afghan refugee with a dream of becoming a rapper | The National". www.thenational.ae. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  2. "'Sonita': IDFA Review". The Hollywood Reporter. November 29, 2015.
  3. "Sonita". sundance.org. Sundance Institute. Archived from the original on January 14, 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  4. Clarke, Donald. "Sonita review: Afghan teen escapes arranged marriage to become a rapper". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  5. "Sonita's director: why I paid $2,000 to stop a rapper being sold into a forced marriage". the Guardian. 2016-10-24. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  6. Lunn, Oliver (2016-10-19). "see the world through the eyes of an afghan teen who raps about forced marriages". i-D. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  7. "Sonita". Time Out Worldwide. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  8. "Sonita review: Afghan female rapper goes on unpredictable journey in triumphant documentary". the Guardian. 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
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