Head of Afghan Film Organization Sahraa Karimi's battle against the Taliban - a panel conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ann Linde and star journalist Åsne Seierstad

The Stockholm International Film Festival organizes an exclusive panel conversation about the threats facing artists and women in Afghanistan today, taking place November 11. The participants are the film director and displaced Head of Afghans Film Organization Sahraa Karimi, the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ann Linde, and Anna Ek, the Swedish Country Director of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. The panel will be moderated by the Norwegian journalist, writer, and Afghanistan expert, Åsne Seierstad.

The panel, including Sahraa Karimi, will discuss questions concerning the threat against women, cultural workers and the cultural sabotage currently affecting Afghanistan. The panel will also bring up questions about Sweden’s aid plans to the country.

On August 15 Sahraa Karimi was forced to flee Kabul when the Taliban took power. During the panel, Karimi will show unique video material from her escape to the airport.

The Stockholms International Film Festival actively supports filmmakers who are victims of oppressive regimes and defends their right of having a voice. The festival has previously acted to ensure that other culture professionals such as the artist Ai Wei Wei, who was issued house arrest by the Chinese Government, and the director Mohammad Rasoulof, previously imprisoned, have had their voices heard. This year the festival puts the oppression of women on the agenda of its Spotlight-themed Motherhood and aims to put focus on the total blockade of women and culture workers in Afghanistan with the panel conversations.

Information about the panel conversation

Date: Thursday, November 11

Time: The panel starts at 13:00 for about 45 minutes

Place: Kulturhuset

Information to the journalists
During the panel, there will be time for questions and afterward press will have the opportunity to interview the participants and the moderator.

Rsvp to press@stockholmfilmfestival.se if you wish to participate during the panel conversation. OBS! There is a limited amount of spots so rsvp in good time if you wish to secure your place in the room.

Get in touch with press@stockholmfilmfestival.se if you are interested in interviewing a panel participant after the panel conversation.

Sahraa Karimi's participation was made possible through the support of The Swedish Institute.

Information on the panel participants

Sahraa Karimi
The director Sahraa Karimi was the first woman to take the position of Head of Afghanistan’s Film Organization in 2019. She was displaced when the Taliban took over the country, and the position is now occupied by a man.

In August 2021 Karimi fled her homeland. In connection to this, she published an open letter where she asked the world to not forget about the crisis affecting Afghanistan. The Stockholms Film Festival used its platform to spread the letter and during the festival, a panel conversation is being arranged to support Sahraa Karimi in this battle. She’s attending the Festival as the Head of the Stockholm XXXII Competition Jury.

By the end of September, Sahraa Karimi together with other Afghan women was nominated to the Sakharov Prize 2021, a prize that is given out each year by the European Parliament, to people or organizations that work for human rights.

Ann Linde, the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ann Linde is currently Sweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. On the 15th of August Ann Linde tweeted; “We won’t abandon the people of Afghanistan. We will find ways to do it without supporting the Taliban. Not a single cent is going to the Taliban!”. Something that got much coverage in the media.

Anna Ek, Country Director Sweden at the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan
Since 2019 Anna Ek has been the Swedish Country Director of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. SCA works with development aid in Afghanistan and works, among other things, to ensure that the country’s population has access to medical care, education, and opportunities for livelihood support and equality. SCA is one of the country’s biggest employers with around 6 000 employees.

If international aid to Afghanistan's state apparatus is stifled, SCA says: "It could trigger the worst humanitarian catastrophe ever."

Åsne Seierstad
Åsne Seierstad has under her career as a journalist and writer been, among other things, a correspondent and has reported from many war-affected areas. Her time in Afghanistan in 2001 resulted in her book The Bookseller of Kabul, which rapidly became a bestseller and got notoriety around the world. Seierstad has continued to bring up important but complicated contemporary questions with books like One of Us, which depicts Anders Behring Breivik's terrorist attacks in Norway in 2011, and Two sisters, about the radicalization of two young sisters that left Norway to become members of IS.

This autumn Seierstad has continuously followed and written about the situation in Afghanistan.

Apply for press accreditation to the Stockholm International Film Festival
2021 here:
filmfreeway.com/StockholmFilmFestival/tickets

For more information, please contact:

Matti Johansson, Head of Press Stockholm International Film Festival
+46 76 811 65 66
press@stockholmfilmfestival.se