In the Room
directed by
Ontario Premiere
Brishkay Ahmed
In the face of exile, five Afghan women’s commitment to freedom and equality empowers them to take the world stage and reclaim their homeland in Brishkay Ahmed’s documentary In the Room. Through a series of honest conversations, these extraordinary rebels reveal the deeply personal history of Afghanistan in all its complexity, beauty and struggle.
Programmer's Notes
Filmmaker Brishkay Ahmed returns to Reelworld’s 25th season with In the Room, a documentary that begins as a character study of Afghan women she admires. With each interview, it evolves into a layered and urgent conversation about the struggles Afghan women have endured, and continue to face, while delivering a stark warning: “Yesterday they came for me. Tomorrow they will come for you.”
Set against 20 years of Afghan history, the film traces how women’s rights briefly gained international attention in 2001, only to be overshadowed by the events of 9/11. The years that followed brought education, hope, and a fragile sense of freedom—all of which were stripped away again on August 15, 2021, with the Taliban’s seizure.
Brishkay previously explored the resilience of Afghan women in In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland, where she followed Kabul’s women-run news network during the final months before the Taliban takeover. With In the Room, she continues to create space for women to speak truth to power — and for us to listen.
- Aisha Evelyna
Cast
N/A
About the Director
Brishkay Ahmed is a filmmaker known for In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland (2021); winner, Reelworld’s Outstanding Feature Film award and nominee, DGC Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary. Brishkay trained at NYU and the Canadian Film Centre, and is the creator of the Afghanistan legal drama, Between You and Me.