🎬 From Kabul to the Freedom Quarter
🎬 Van Kabul naar de Vrijheidswijk

TV Broadcasts:
📺 NPO 2 (National Dutch Television)

• 🗓️ Saturday, May 3, 2025 — 🕒 15:30 (CEST)

• 🗓️ Sunday, May 4, 2025 — 🕒 13:25 (CEST)

📺 Omrop Fryslân

Synopsis

Mariam was born as a refugee and raised without legal rights or access to education. Like thousands of Afghan children who grew up in Iran without residency permits, she never had the chance to attend school. Her childhood was shaped by poverty, instability, forced labor, and deep personal trauma. She is also one of the few Afghan women who bravely speak out about experiences of sexual harassment. Despite everything she endured, Mariam never stopped searching for a life of dignity and freedom.

Eventually, Mariam and her daughter found refuge in the Netherlands, in a neighborhood symbolically called the Freedom Quarter. There, she begins to rebuild her life and reflect on what freedom truly means.

Read more about the film and watch it online (in Dutch) via FryslânDOK

🎥 A Message from the Director

“I see this documentary as my contribution to making visible the stories that are too often hidden.

Mariam’s personal history represents the experience of countless girls and women whose voices are systematically silenced — especially those who have faced traumas they were never allowed to speak about.

Her courage to speak openly about sexual violence makes her one of the very few women who dare to break the silence.”