771 days

Zainab Entezar is an award-winning Afghan filmmaker, producer, writer, and international jury member whose work focuses on the lives, struggles, and resistance of Afghan women. She began her filmmaking career in 2014 with her short film Maryam and gained international recognition when her film House was officially selected at the Locarno Film Festival.
Her films — including Maryam, House, Bicycle, Rise and Shine, and the Netherlands-produced feature documentary Shot the Voice of Freedom (2024) — have been screened at more than 170 international film festivals worldwide, earning over 30 international awards. Shot the Voice of Freedom was presented at major Oscar-qualifying festivals such as IDFA, Yamagata, Santa Barbara, and DocAviv, where it received multiple awards in the categories of Best Documentary and Human Rights Film.
In addition to filmmaking, Entezar is the author of several novels, including A Man Wore Gentle Like Dad, Yusra, and The Womenly Voices of Freedom, with some of her works translated into Italian and French. She is regarded as the first Afghan woman filmmaker to produce films under Taliban rule.
Currently living in exile, Zainab Entezar is working on her new documentary project and continues her artistic mission to amplify the voices of Afghan women through cinema and literature.