What Tomorrow Brings

Short Synopsis

WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS is a feature-length documentary film that follows a year in the life of an American-sponsored girls’ school in rural Afghanistan, providing a rare glimpse into a community torn between two radically-different futures.

Description/Treatment

Afghanistan has once again taken center stage in America’s global fight against terrorism. As President Obama orders 30,000 additional troops to the country, the Taliban insurgency is gathering strength across the border in Pakistan – undermining stability in both countries – and the fate of the entire region hangs in a precarious balance. Against this harrowing backdrop, the feature-length documentary WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS takes us to the sleepy, pastoral village of Deh Subz, where an American-sponsored girls’ school is challenging centuries of conservative social tradition. Over the course of a single school year, the film traces the interconnected stories of students, teachers, village elders and tenacious school founder Razia Jan, building an intimate portrait of a community caught between the forces of tribal, patriarchal tradition and Western-style democracy.

In its whole history, Deh Subz has never had a girls’ school. Its daughters have largely shared the same destiny: illiteracy, arranged marriage, and traditional domestic lives. All of that began to change with the arrival of Afghan-American Razia Jan. After spending 23 years in America running a dry-cleaning business, Razia has returned to Afghanistan on a mission to build a privately-funded school for girls, convinced that educating girls will help lift her country out of war and poverty in ways that bombs or ballots cannot. While billions of tax dollars are channeled into the escalating U.S. military presence, a growing consensus of Western aid workers agrees that empowering and educating girls is the most powerful, cost-effective tool for combating poverty and extremism.

But on the streets of Deh Subz, such prescriptive solutions seem far more complicated. Even after the construction of Razia’s school is finished, she must convince skeptical tribal elders that educating their daughters will benefit the community at a time when girls’ schools across Afghanistan are attacked or shut down almost daily. Taliban insurgents, along with many Afghans, see these schools as symbols of Westernization, but Razia tries to convince Deh Subz that her school is a rare symbol of hope. These girls are the future of Afghanistan, she insists, asking only that the men of the village keep the school safe from attacks. To win the trust of the elders, Razia agrees to divert some of the funds she has raised to buy books for the local madrassa, a boys-only religious school across the street, while acknowledging that her donors in America might not approve.

The film opens on the first day of classes, with scenes of Razia watching her students running eagerly to class, filled with both excitement and apprehension. All it takes is one crazy person with a grenade to destroy everything. Two of the school’s most promising students are Khadija and Khudaija, orphaned sisters who struggle to stay in class after 12-year-old Khudaija is forced into an engagement with her brother’s 9-year-old friend. When Khudaija’s future in-laws forbid her from going to school, we follow Razia and school administrator Zia to the girl’s home, where they make an emotional plea to her aunt. Khudaija is eventually allowed to resume her education, but Razia is concerned that the agreement will not last. It becomes a daily battle just to keep the sisters coming to class.

As these stories unfold, the film introduces footage shot by the girls themselves – at home and around the village. (We have trained six girls in the use of three Canon HDV camcorders which have been left at the school.) Interviews with parents and tribal elders are also woven in to reflect the multitude of reactions that Deh Subz has to its newest school. In the classroom, we meet teachers like Nazima, a stubbornly-modern Afghan woman who wears makeup, fashionable clothing, and commutes to Deh Subz every day from Kabul. The presence of Western-oriented teachers like Nazima offends many of the villagers, but Razia explains that this is one of the major challenges for girls’ education everywhere in Afghanistan. None of these villages have educated women to teach their girls, so we are forced to find teachers at the university in Kabul, where the culture is very different. Every step is a compromise.

In lyrical, cinema verité style, the film traces the stories of several girls over a single school year – both inside the classroom and at home – providing a rare glimpse into the day-to-day life of an Afghan community torn between two radically different destinies. The varying perspectives of Razia, village elders, teachers, parents and the girls themselves reflect the complex cultural politics of aid and development in the midst of war and occupation. Razia hopes that if her approach is successful, it can be used as a model for culturally-sensitive education in other communities across Afghanistan and in developing countries around the world.

The film ends as the school year comes to a close. Some of the girls will be inspired to continue their studies, but many will be forced into arranged marriage or domestic labor. Razia wishes every girl could go on to college, but acknowledges that only a few girls out of hundreds may have that opportunity. They have a future. How big a future, I can’t promise… They know that their life is worth something now. You can be robbed or beaten, but once you learn something, nobody can take that away from you.