Jennifer Lawrence's secret filming in Afghanistan

"You lone oppress women," the young pistillate says to the Taliban fighter.

"I told you not to talk," helium shouts back, "I volition termination you close here!"

"Okay, termination me!" she replies, raising her dependable to lucifer his. "You closed schools and universities! It's amended to termination me!"

A camera telephone has secretly, and shakily, captured this nonstop confrontation wrong a car betwixt the pistillate and the militant.

She had conscionable been arrested pursuing a protestation and was astir to beryllium taken to a holding compartment successful Kabul.

It is simply a country from the documentary Bread and Roses, which explores the day-to-day lives of 3 women successful the weeks pursuing the takeover.

The shaper is the Oscar-winning actress, Jennifer Lawrence, who is telling the BBC wherefore this infinitesimal successful the movie is truthful important to her.

"My bosom was beating truthful accelerated watching these women defy the Taliban," Lawrence says. "You don't spot this broadside of the story, women warring back, successful the quality mundane and it's an important portion of our film, and the stories of these women."

She says it is devastating to deliberation astir the abrupt nonaccomplishment of power Afghan women person endured.

"They presently person nary autonomy wrong their country. It is truthful important for them to beryllium fixed the accidental to papers their ain story, successful their ain way."

The movie has been made by Excellent Cadaver, the accumulation institution Lawrence acceptable up successful 2018 with her person Justine Ciarrocchi.

"This documentary was calved retired of emotion and necessity," says Lawrence, who describes feeling helpless and frustrated astir what she was seeing connected the news.

Ciarrocchi says that Lawrence "had a seismic absorption to the autumn of Kabul successful 2021 due to the fact that the circumstances were truthful dire for women".

"And she said, 'We've got to springiness idiosyncratic a level to archer this communicative successful a meaningful way.'"

That idiosyncratic was Sahra Mani, a documentary shaper who co-founded the autarkic Kabul accumulation company, Afghan Doc House.

Both Lawrence and Ciarrocchi had watched her critically-acclaimed documentary A Thousand Girls Like Me, which profiles a 23-year-old Afghan pistillate who goes connected nationalist tv to exposure intersexual maltreatment by her father, aft being ignored by her household and the police.

Ciarrocchi tracked down Mani, who said that she had already begun a project, pursuing 3 women successful the state arsenic they tried to found immoderate benignant of autonomy successful the months pursuing the Taliban takeover, arsenic girls and women were barred from universities and schools.

Mani filmed utilizing covert cameras, and adjacent asked the women to movie themselves astatine safehouses with their friends and families.

Another series captures a concealed gathering successful a windowless basement, disconnected a broadside thoroughfare successful Kabul. More than a twelve women beryllium successful rows of desks and chairs, arranged similar a makeshift classroom. Steam rises from the drinks successful their integrative cups.

They bash not cognize each other, but each are from antithetic groups who protested aft the Taliban retook Afghanistan successful August 2021.

One of the women, a dentist called Zahra, has led the spectator to this concealed meeting. When she speaks to the group, she reminisces astir wearing precocious heels and perfume and going to the parkland with her friends. The women astir her smile.

Then a writer named Vahideh starts speaking.

"Women indispensable constitute their ain history," Vahideh says passionately to the group, to murmurs of agreement. "Women are not decently celebrated astir the world."

Mani was good alert of the challenges of filming successful specified backstage and unsafe situations.

"I recognize however to woody with difficulties due to the fact that I americium 1 of them.

"They are not victims," she says, "they are heroes."

But getting the equilibrium close betwixt keeping the women harmless and telling their communicative was not easy. She tells the BBC that determination were respective late-night conversations betwixt her, Ciarrocchi and Lawrence during the accumulation process.

"They were determination whenever I faced immoderate issues oregon problems," Mani says. "When women unite, everything is possible."

With Mani and the different women featured present each retired of the country, the producers felt comfy submitting Bread and Roses for wider distribution, starting astatine Cannes.

Ciarrocchi and Lawrence accidental their adjacent situation is to get the movie successful beforehand of a ample assemblage - not ever casual erstwhile the communicative is simply a snapshot of an ongoing and devastating conflict.

"There's not an extremity to this story," says Lawrence, "and you consciousness beauteous overmuch helpless erstwhile reasoning astir however to bash thing astir it. It's a hard happening to market."

As women enforcement producers, Ciarrocchi and Lawrence are inactive successful the number successful Hollywood. A 2022 survey from the Center for the Study of Women successful Television and Film showed that women comprised lone 24% of directors, writers and producers successful the top-grossing films, a alteration from 2021.

"I deliberation there's a long, agelong mode to go, but I bash consciousness inspired and affirmative by the extremity merchandise erstwhile you person much diverseness successful filmmaking," says Lawrence. "It's what radical want. The audiences privation it."

Ciarrocchi adds: "That's wherefore we instrumentality the work of Jen's level truthful earnestly arsenic a pistillate who's giving opportunities to different women... to employment women, to archer women's stories, to ever employment a divers assemblage of people."

"That's besides due to the fact that I americium a woman," replies Lawrence.

"I'm fortunate capable to not person the biased thought that women aren't arsenic bully astatine things!"