Jennifer Lawrence Produced Documentary About Women in Afghanistan as an 'Antithesis of the 24-Hour News Cycle'

Mar. 15, 2025

When the United States militarywithdrew from Afghanistanin August 2021 and the Talibanimmediately retook control over the country,Jennifer Lawrencehad an idea. She sought out a female Afghan filmmaker to document the lives of women as they attempted to resist a return to life under an oppressive rule based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

“Part of the devastation was knowing that in a matter of hours, this would be out of the news cycle and people would move on and forget what’s happening to the people of Afghanistan, which is of course exactly what the Taliban wants,” she says. Lawrence and producing partner Justine Ciarrochi were familiar with filmmaker Mani through her 2021 documentaryA Thousand Girls Like Me, which followed an Afghan woman in her 20s seeking justice for sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father.

“She was already in the process of getting equipment to women in Afghanistan [and] was already collecting footage,” Lawrence says of Mani, who was able to escape Afghanistan in the days before the Taliban completely retook control of the country.

For Mani,Bread and Rosesis a portrait of the mindset and attitude of women — some of whom she knew personally — in Afghanistan as the Taliban set out severely repressing women’s rights. While three of the women featured in the movie have since left the country, the situation has worsened as the Taliban maintains its grip on Afghanistan more than three years after much of the footage in the documentary was captured.

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“It was not easy journey for us, for all of us, because we were facing a real human story of loss, resilience, and hope. But we did our best to tell their stories with authenticity and respect,” Mani tells PEOPLE of directing the documentary. “So it was a challenging journey for us. Especially, it was a very emotional journey for us because we were witnessing that so many women were in prison, facing [arrest], kidnapping and some of them, killing. But the story of these three women is not only their story, but a story of more than 20 million women in Afghanistan that are facing the same situation.”

Malala Yousafzai and Jennifer Lawrence on Nov. 14, 2024.Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage

Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage

Of Lawrence, who flew to Sweden to work with Mani as she edited the movie, Mani adds, “We had a lot of discussion in the editing room. We laugh, we cry…. It was a wonderful collaboration and deep involvement for all of us.”

source: people.com