Free public screenings 3/6 at Cornell Cinema and 3/7 at Cinemapolis

Ithaca City of Asylum is bringing the award-winning filmmaker Sahraa Karimi to Ithaca for a three-day visit timed to coincide with International Women’s Day. Karimi, the first and only Afghan woman with a PhD in film, will publicly screen two of her feature-length films and meet with students and faculty at Cornell University, Tompkins Cortland Community College, and Ithaca College. 

Sahraa Karimi is an independent director and screenwriter with more than 30 films to her credit. In 2012, she established a production company in Kabul to support Afghan independent filmmakers and artists but she was forced to leave the country after the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

Karimi will spend Wednesday, March 6, at Cornell as a guest of the South Asia Program at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. She will be at Cornell Cinema at 7 p.m. to screen her 2009 documentary, Afghan Women Behind the Wheel. The film won more than 20 prizes at film festivals around the world. After the screening, Karimi will speak with Cornell art history professor Iftikhar Dadi and take questions from the audience. More information is here.

On Thursday, March 7, Karimi will spend the day with students at Tompkins Cortland Community College and Ithaca College. She will be at Cinemapolis at 6:30 p.m. for a public screening of her first feature fiction film, Hava, Maryam, Ayesha. 

The film, which was Afghanistan’s entry for the 2019 Oscars, braids together the stories of three women from very different backgrounds confronting personal crises in modern-day Kabul. Karimi will be available after the film for a Q&A. Free tickets will be available on the Cinemapolis website and at the box office.

Sahraa Karimi’s visit is made possible in part by funds from the Statewide Community Regrants program from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and NYS Legislature, and from Tompkins County, administered by the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County. Additional financial support is provided by a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Accommodations and meals are provided by Carl Becker House.