Sima’s Song
Roya Sadat
The educated Suraya comes from an influential political family. She shares a deep friendship and a mutual love of Afghan music with her domestic servant’s daughter, Sima, who is a talented singer. The power of Afghan songs is fully expressed in the wonderfully staged concert scenes, overcoming all political differences. Sima joins forces with a young Muslim association, while Suraya fights for justice as chairwoman of the Communist Party’s women’s organisation.
In Sima’s Song, we learn a lot about the progressive 1970s, when women were part of public and professional life and their everyday lives were modern. A hopeful film in view of the desolate situation for women in today’s Afghanistan.
Roya Sadat
Pioneer director Roya Sadat is one of Afghanistan’s most prominent women filmmakers. She made her first film in 2003, following the fall of the Taliban, and is co-founder of Roya Film House and the Herat International Women’s Film Festival. Her feature film A Letter to the President was the 2018 Afghan entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars®. Sadat has received the Malalai Medal and the International Women of Courage Award for her work in promoting women’s rights. In 2021, Sadat was directing the opera A Thousand Distant Suns in the US when the Taliban re-took control in Afghanistan in August of that year. She continues her work and that of Roya Film House in American exile under difficult conditions, together with her husband Aziz Deldar and her sister Alka Sadat.
Films by Roya Sadat
The Sharp Edge of Peace 2024, Khat Sevom 2018 & 2019, A Letter to the President 2017, After Years of Struggle 2014, Playing the Taar 2008, Three Dots 2003
