Golshifteh Farahani Stars in Kabul Drama When She Hears the Bells, Heading to Tallinn
Golshifteh Farahani stars in When She Hears the Bells, a drama set in Kabul that premieres in the First Feature Competition at the 30th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) in Estonia.
Farahani plays Leila, a young widow looking for a fresh start in the Afghan capital. Sayed Hashimi co-stars. The film is the debut feature of writer-director Chabname Zariab, who wrote the script with her sister, Parande Zariab.
The story follows Leila as she takes a job in a kitchen and finds out it is a bacha bazi house. Bacha bazi is a practice in which powerful men keep boys and sexually abuse them. Leila tries to flee, and she tries to help a group of boys escape as the Taliban moves toward Kabul in 2021, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which has premiered an exclusive clip from the film.
The film was shot almost entirely in Casablanca, Morocco, with some images filmed in Kabul, the same report says. Pierre Cottereau handled the cinematography. Xavier Sirven, Héloïse Pelloquet and Julie Duclaux are the editors.
The production is a European co-production. France's Alta Rocca Films is joined by Germany's Starhaus Filmproduktion, Belgium's Versus Production and Arte France Cinema. A co-production means several companies share the cost and the work of making a film.
Distribution is set in three European markets. Le Pacte will release the film in France, Grandfilm in Germany and O'Brother in Belgium. Le Pacte also handles sales, which means it will offer the film to buyers in other territories.
Festival premieres such as Tallinn's are often where a film first meets an audience and the buyers who decide where it goes next. For Farahani and the Zariab sisters, this is the first public showing of a debut feature that has already found partners across three countries.
