Prison Sisters

In Afghanistan, Sara was incarcerated in a women’s prison because she had run away with her boyfriend at the age of 17. She and her best friend Najibeh were the protagonists in the Emmy Award-winning documentary by directors Maryam Ebrahimi and Nima Sarvestani. Upon Sara’s release from prison, the directors invite her to the premiere of their documentary in Sweden. Here, Sara sees for the first time what life outside of Afghanistan is like. She applies for asylum and while waiting for the decision, she gets used to a country where freedom for women is the norm. Nevertheless, Sara can never really be free: she still feels connected to Najibeh, and worries about her fate. Sara sets in motion a search for Najibeh and shortly after, she gets the news that she was stoned to death. But there are many inconsistencies surrounding her death. Sara and filmmaker Nima Sarvestani feverishly try to establish what really happened to Najibeh, only to encounter a maze of half-truths on the streets of Afghanistan.