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SIMA'S SONG

By Roya SADAT

Social issues - Completed 2024

With the Afghan civil war about to break out, young, lifelong friends Suraya (communist, wealthy) and Sima (humble, Muslim) must question their life choices and moral principles when they get involved in opposite sides of the political turmoil.

- Year of production
- 2024
- Genres
- Social issues, Drama
- Countries
- SPAIN, FRANCE, NETHERLANDS
- Languages
- FARSI
- Duration
- 104 mn
- Director(s)
- Roya SADAT
- Cast
- Mozhdah JAMALZADAH, Paeman ARIANFAR, Niloufar KOUKHANI
- Producer(s)
- Alba SOTORRA (ALBA SOTORRA S.L.), Frank HOEVE (BALDR Film), Maeva SAVINIEN (Urban Factory), Stefano CENTINI (VOLOS Films)
- Synopsis
- 2023, Kabul. A bearded young boy covers a mural of a singing woman with white paint. Suraya (65) and her granddaughter Seema (12) march with a crowd of women, protesting against the Taliban regime. When the demonstrators start to sing, chaos breaks out and Suraya and Seema escape. Back home, Suraya tells her granddaughter about Sima, her best friend from youth, an amazing singer, a truly free woman. Her story takes us back in time: 1979.
  
  Despite coming from opposite realities, Sima (22)—conservative, humble Muslim—and Suraya (22)—communist, wealthy—have grown up in the same household and are as close as sisters. They respect each other in their disparity: even if they have different views on what freedom means, they are both firm defenders of women’s rights.
  
  At a gathering to honor Suraya’s father, whose assassination sparked the revolution that took the communist party (PDPA) to power, Suraya is appointed leader of the PDPA’s Women’s Organization. Sima believes Suraya’s new role is a case of window dressing and advises Suraya to be on the lookout: politics seldom relates to freedom; it’s usually about power. Suraya believes communism is the way forward for women’s rights and strains to do her part, but her every step is met with resistance, both in the community and the PDPA.
  
  Following her father’s advice, Sima decides to marry her friend Wahab on the condition that she can keep studying and performing her music. Suraya disapproves of the marriage, but tries to be happy for her friend. Together, Sima and Wahab start attending meetings of the Muslim Youth, who try to conteract the actions of the communist regime to defend traditional values.
  
  Tensions rise within the government. When people from the Muslim Youth start to get arrested by the army, Suraya helps Sima and Wahab to escape to the mountains with the mujahideen. But the army finds their camp: Wahab is killed and Sima is arrested and tortured for information. At the city, an internal conspiracy in the PDPA has resulted in the murder, imprisonment, or exile of Suraya’s comrades. When Suraya starts to step out of line, she is arrested too and pressured to extract information from Sima.
  
  Sima and Suraya are reunited in prison, where they realize they have been used by political groups who were only hungry for power. Suraya holds Sima through the night until she dies due to the torture injuries. Not long after, the regime falls and all political prisoners are freed.
  
  Back in 2023, Suraya finds the cassette of a song performed by Sima and plays it with a bittersweet smile: she’s gone, but her memory lives on. Her granddaughter sings along as we see a wide shot of Suraya’s former house, which has been taken by the Talibans.