LOVE CRIMES OF KABUL goes inside a women’s prison in Afghanistan to tell a series of fascinating stories
LOVE CRIMES OF KABUL (Tanaz Eshaghian, 2011)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
Monday, June 20, 6:30; Tuesday, June 21, 8:45; Wednesday, June 22, 4:00
Series runs through June 30
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com
www.hrw.org
Iranian-American documentarian Tanaz Eshaghian (I Call Myself Persian, Be Like Others) and cinematographer Kat Patterson gained remarkable access to Afghanistan’s Badam Bagh women’s prison for their fascinating HBO film, Love Crimes of Kabul. Having its U.S. premiere at the twenty-second Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Love Crimes focuses on the intriguing stories of three imprisoned women. Eighteen-year-old Sabereh was arrested after her father turned her in for allegedly having sex with her seventeen-year-old neighbor, Abbas, even though lab reports show she is still a virgin. The twenty-year-old and pregnant Kareema turned in herself and her fiancé, Firuz, in the hopes of forcing him to marry her. And twenty-three-year-old Aleema is in jail because she ran away from her abusive husband and took shelter with Zia and her son, both of whom were arrested as well for attempting to sell her; meanwhile, Zia is trying to convince Aleema to marry her son in order to save them all from shame. Approximately half of the 125 female inmates at Badam Bagh have been incarcerated for either having premarital sex, running away from home, or committing adultery, many of them facing upwards of fifteen to twenty years for their actions. The women are remarkably open and honest, making their own cases to the camera while condemning those of their fellow inmates. Eshaghian captures Kareema speaking to her mother through the prison gates as they discuss the possibility of her father making a financial deal with Firuz and his family. Forty-five-year-old Naseema, the elder spokesperson of the group, proudly talks about having killer her husband, whom she claims deserved it because of his penchant for adultery, including with a seven-year-old girl. And the prison guards regularly defend the laws that essentially make certain kinds of love a crime in Afghanistan. Although she is not allowed into a wedding ceremony or two of the trials, Eshaghian does film one of the trials; she also photographs Firuz’s parents talking to her very directly while in bed, and Aleema holds nothing back when discussing her divorce and her unwillingness to marry Zia’s son, primarily because she claims he couldn’t afford to keep her in the lifestyle she wants. Eshaghian presents the facts and the myriad opinions without embellishment, letting these deeply personal and inherently infuriating stories speak for themselves, revealing a frighteningly old-fashioned society that is doing everything it can to prevent the freedom of women to make their own choices. Part of the “Migrants’ and Women’s Rights” section of the Human Rights Watch Festival, which also includes “Times of Conflict and Responses to Terrorism,” “Human Dignity, Discrimination, and Resources,” and “Truth, Justice, and Accountability,” Love Crimes of Kabul will be shown June 20-22, with all three screenings followed by a discussion with Eshaghian. The festival, which runs through June 30, features nineteen films from twelve countries that deal with human rights issues around the world.