Article by Andrea Dosio

Translation by Alice Ivaldi Lessona

No Woman’s Land is a photo feature shot in Afghanistan by Kiana Hayeri for the World Press Photo 2025. It is a testament to the resistance and dignity of Afghan women, which has a lot in common with Cinema Jazireh, Gözde Kural’s second feature film presented in competition at the TFF.

The film intertwines two stories: on one hand, there is Leyla, a woman who – since she is not allowed to leave the house alone – disguises herself as a man to search for her missing son, Omid, whose name means “hope” in Persian. On the other, a child whose identity is unknown is kidnapped and taken to Cinema Jazireh, a place where shows and screenings are organized against the Taliban fundamentalist bans.

The beginning is visually powerful: the protagonist, filmed from behind as in a romantic painting by Friedrich, gazes at the boundless desert in front of her looking for answers she cannot find. The woman goes forward and the camera follows her with a tracking shot. When the sequence moves to a village, we see writing on the walls: people, having no freedom to express themselves verbally, write their thoughts there. For the first ten minutes, Leyla’s face is not visible because she wears a burqa, which can be removed only at home. The transformations of the face are one of the keys to interpret the film: if the beard is a symbol of prestige and devotion for men, women become men by wearing a fake beard created with their own cut hair. However, in the Cinema Jazireh, a young man cuts it off, because he feels uncomfortable with his beard and wants to oppose traditions.

The film analyses gender issues in Afghan society. The director chooses to focus on the feminine sphere and on two characters who transform their aspect, redefining themselves.

Afghanistan is No Woman’s Land, but the hope that one day it may become one still stands.

Published on Repubblica online.