And Still I Sing (Fazila Amiri) Canada, Afghanistan |

And Still I Sing
Fazila Amiri
Canada, Afghanistan. 2022. 89 min

DESPITE DEATH THREATS, THREE FEMALE AFGHAN SINGERS FIGHT FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS THROUGH MUSIC.

Afghanistan’s controversial pop star and activist Aryana Sayeed mentors hopeful contestants on the hit singing TV series Afghan Star.

For 13 straight seasons, the show has featured only male winners. In 2019, this was about to change. Female singers Zahra Elham and Sadiqa Madadgar are on the verge of success as their hopes and dreams of becoming national singers begin to turn into reality.

Their lives are turned upside down when the Taliban return to power, reversing twenty years of progress for women’s rights. Amidst the fear caused by the fall of the Afghan government, each woman must make a harrowing escape from Kabul into exile while the US fully evacuates.

And I Still Sing is the first feature film by award-winning Afghan Canadian writer and director, Fazila Amiri. Amiri is an alumni of the 2021 Cannes Docs, 2020 Hot Docs Accelerator Lab and 2019 RIDM Talent Lab.

FAZILA AMIRI

Fazila Amiri is an Afghan-Canadian writer and director based in Toronto, ON. She holds an MFA in Film Production from York University and a BFA in Film Studies from NSCAD University. Her work includes documentary and fiction. AND STILL I SING (2022) is her first feature documentary, which had its World Premiere at the 2022 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, and screened at the 2022 Sheffield Doc Fest, Sydney Film Festival, and Doc Edge Festival, where it won the “Fearless” Award in Best Festival Category. Fazila is an alumni of the 2021 Cannes Docs, 2020 Hot Docs Accelerator Lab, 2019 RIDM Talent Lab, and 2018 Telefilm Canada’s Talent to Watch.