Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence said she pushed past being scared of producing a new film about the oppression of women under the Taliban rule, because “the alternative is so much more horrifying”.
The Hollywood star has co-produced a documentary titled Bread & Roses alongside Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, which follows the impact on three women of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
The film is said to have begun three years ago when Lawrence was shocked by the news of the plight of Afghan women and the prospect of them being forgotten.
The 33-year-old commissioned Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani, who hasn’t returned to Kabul since the Taliban regained control, to direct the project and shoot the in-person testimonies.
“Obviously it was scary to reach out to Sahra and offer to get her funds and equipment,” Lawrence told the Guardian.
“There were many people in my life that didn’t want me to get involved. It’s scary and it is overwhelming, but the scariest possible outcome is ignoring it and pretending like it’s not happening.”
She continued: “I do understand and sympathise with the freeze response.
“I have to fight it myself. But the alternative is so much more horrifying because the Taliban is a terrorist organisation to the world.
“And if we ignore the rights of women around the world, it makes the world a more dangerous place.”
Lawrence, who won an Oscar in 2013 for her role in Silver Linings Playbook opposite Bradley Cooper, hoped the film through the perspective of Afghan women would mean “it’s not just a flash of a story in a pan”.
“These women need the world to witness this so that they are not suffering in vain, and we need to pressure our governments to hold the Taliban accountable,” she added.
Bread & Roses is on Apple TV + and in select cinemas from June 21.