Zarifa Ghafari was only 26 when she became the mayor of Maidan Shar, which made her the youngest mayor in Afghanistan history (and one of the only women to ever hold the position). About a year and a half into her tenure, the Taliban took control of the country with dire consequences for its citizens, women’s rights and Ghafari in particular.
Marcel Mettelsiefen and Tamana Ayazi capture the lead-up to these events in their documentary “In Her Hands,” which held its world premiere at the Toronto film festival. The director duo and Ghafari sat down at TheWrap and Shutterstock’s Interview and Portrait Studio at TIFF to talk about how the film came together and Ghafari’s journey.