Story of Burqa: Case of a Confused Afghan
A film by Brishkay Ahmed

Story of Burqa is playing at DOXA 2012 Film Festival on May 10 at 7pm at the Empire Granville 7 Cinemas in Vancouver. 

There's an old saying that clothes make the man. The flip side of that might be that the burqa unmakes the woman -- rendering her a non-person in the eyes of the beholder. This is the conclusion one would draw after seeing Brishkay Ahmed's Story of Burqa, a documentary looking into the obscure origins of this controversial garment.

Ahmed goes to Afghanistan to talk with the makers and sellers of the burqa (almost exclusively men, it would seem) and also with those who are obliged to wear it for fear of punitive acid attacks or beatings by the men around them. Aside from one politically correct blonde lady who suggests that while the stifling and vision-obscuring burqa isn't right for her, but might be right for others, most of the wearers interviewed are quite clear about their distaste for it. Interestingly, some of the most emotional objectors to the burqa are Afghan men who remember how the...More >>