Enemies of Happiness

(Vores Lykkes Fjender)

A film by Eva Mulvad and Anja Al-Erhayem

Denmark | 2006 | 59 minutes | Color | DVD | Farsi, Pasthu | Subtitled | Order No. 07921

Host a screening
Watch on Kanopy
Watch on Docuseek

SYNOPSIS

"In September 2005, Afghanistan held its first parliamentary elections in 35 years. Among the candidates for 249 assembly seats was Malalai Joya, a courageous, controversial 27-year-old woman who had ignited outrage among hard-liners when she spoke out against corrupt warlords at the Grand Council of tribal elders in 2003. ENEMIES OF HAPPINESS is a revelatory portrait of this extraordinary freedom fighter and the way she won the hearts of voters, as well as a snapshot of life and politics in war-torn Afghanistan.

Amidst vivid, poetic images of Joya's dusty Farah Province, the film tracks the final weeks of her campaign, when death threats restrict her movements. But the parade of trusting constituents arriving on her doorstep leaves no doubt that Joya is a popular hero. Among her visitors is a 100-year-old woman who treks two hours to offer loyalty and herbal medicine. King Solomon-style, Joya acts as folk mediator and advocate, adjudicating between a wife and her violent, drug-addicted husband and counseling a family forced to marry off their adolescent daughter to a much older man. Protected by armed guards, Joya heads to poor rural areas to address crowds of women, pledging to be their voice and ‘expose the enemies of peace, women, and democracy.’ In the presence of her fierce tenacity, we can imagine the future of an enlightened nation.” - Caroline Libresco, Sundance Film Festival

PRESS

“Narrates the political trajectory of Joya skillfully … Highly recommended as a resource for discussions in Middle Eastern studies, gender studies, human rights, religious studies, and women’s studies.”

Educational Media Reviews Online

“A political documentary with a difference…quietly celebrates its heroine's fierce determination to reform her country's attitude toward women.”

Leslie Felperin Variety

“A powerful portrait…offers compelling evidence that it takes more than military might and diplomats to hold democratic elections in a country where few people know how to read or write and many say votes can be bought and sold.”

Eva Novrup Redvall FILM #53

“Eloquent...Joya is a controversial voice for a nation ruined by war and ruled by tradition, and a voice with a desperate urge for change.”

Göteborg Film Festival

“Carries the magic uplift of classic Hollywood and the considerable bonus of authenticity.”

Rob Nelson Village Voice

“Incredible…a character so compelling you don't want the camera to turn away.”

Brian Darr GreenCine Daily

“3 Stars. Recommended. Capture[s] Joya’s spirit and tenacity, while also showing the considerable obstacles that Afghan women continue to face… offers a much-needed reminder of what is taking place in that still-troubled country.”

Video Librarian

“Watching this politician interact with her constituents is a lesson in basic democracy, human rights and feminism.”

Curve Magazine

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Sundance F F, World Cinema Prize: Documentary
  • Int’l Doc Fest Amsterdam (IDFA), Silver Wolf Award
  • Copenhagen Int’l Doc F F, Amnesty Award Nominee
  • Nestor Almendros Prize, Human Rights Watch F F
  • Silverdocs, Sterling Feature Special Jury Mention
  • Expresión En Corto Int'l F F, Best Int'l Doc
  • Den europeiske dokumentarfilmfestivalen, Norway
  • Documentary Fortnight, MoMA, NYC
  • Rencontres Internationales de Documentaire de Montreal
  • Broadcast on the PBS WIDE ANGLE series as “A Woman Among Warlords”
  • Newport Beach Film Festival
  • Human Rights Watch Int’l Film Festival
  • Jerusalem Int. Film Festival
  • Warsawa, Planete Doc Review, Poland 
  • Amakula Kampala International Film Festival
  • München Documentary Festival, Germany 
  • International Female Film Festival Malmö
  • Istanbul Int. Film Festival
  • Creteil, Festival Films De Femmes
  • Belfast Film Festival
  • Sao Paulo It's All True Int. Documentary FF
  • Hong Kong International Film Festival
  • The Royal Film Commission of Jordan
  • True/False Film Festival
  • One World Human Rights Film Festival, Czech Republic
  • ZagrebDox, Croatia
  • Mexico City Int’l Contemporary Film Festival
  • Helsinki Doc Point Documentary Film Festival
  • Female Film Festival Malmö
  • Danish National Museum
  • Toronto, Hot Docs Int. Documentary Festival
  • Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Greece
  • Amnesty International Film Festival
  • Goteborg Film Festival
  • Women's Film Festival, VT
  • Seoul Women's Film Festival

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Eva Mulvad

In 2011 Eva Mulvad (born 1972) won the prestigious, Danish Roos Award granted for her entire body of work. Mulvad graduated from the Danish Film School in 2001 and by 2006 she had her international break-through with ENEMIES OF HAPPINESS, which focused on the female politician Malalai Joya’s political campaign ahead of the first democratic elections in Afghanistan 2005. The film won the Silver Wolf Award at IDFA and subsequently the World Cinema Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

With her intrinsic flair for drama and with many international awards in the baggage, Eva Mulvad is one of the most prominent Danish film-makers. Most recently Mulvad spent three years working on family-chronicle entitled THE GOOD LIFE (2010). The film was shown at IDFA and went on to win the award for Best Documentary at Kalovy Vary International Film Festival. (8/14)

Anja Al-Erhayem

Anja Al Erhayem is a Danish filmmaker with an Iraqi father and a Danish mother. Before the US-led invasion of Iraq, in 2002, Anja travelled to Iraq with her father to make a film about his family. The film, titled BACK TO BAGHDAD, showed unique footage of everyday life in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The film itself has won a number of international prizes and after the war started, Anja went back to make a follow-up film, Dangerous Freedom, about life just after Hussein. In 2006, Al Erhayam directed and hosted six documentary and travel shows in the Middle East. She also co-directed ENEMIES OF HAPPINESS (2006). She is also the author of "The Sun Cries Over Baghdad."

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland

Filmed as the U.S. planned for its September 2021 withdrawal of troops, IN THE RUMBLING BELLY OF MOTHERLAND documents an inspiring female-led news agency in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Learn more

Invoking Justice

In Southern India, family disputes are settled by Jamaats—all male bodies which apply Islamic Sharia law to cases without allowing women to be present, even to defend themselves. Recognizing this fundamental inequity, a group of women in 2004 established a women’s Jamaat, which soon became a network of 12,000 members spread over 12 districts. Despite enormous resistance, they have been able to settle more than 8,000 cases to date, ranging from divorce to wife beating to brutal murders and more. Award-winning filmmaker Deepa Dhanraj (SOMETHING LIKE A WAR) follows several cases, shining a light on how the women’s Jamaat has acquired power through both communal education and the leaders’ persistent, tenacious and compassionate investigation of the crimes. In astonishing scenes we watch the Jamaat meetings, where women often shout over each other about the most difficult facets of their personal lives. Above all, the women’s Jamaat exists to hold their male counterparts and local police to account, and to reform a profoundly corrupt system which allows men to take refuge in the most extreme interpretation of the Qur’an to justify violence towards women.
Learn more

Forbidden Voices: How to Start a Revolution with a Computer

Their voices are suppressed, prohibited and censored. But world-famous bloggers Yoani Sánchez, Zeng Jinyan and Farnaz Seifi are unafraid of their dictatorial regimes. These fearless women represent a new, networked generation of modern rebels. In Cuba, China and Iran their blogs shake the foundations of the state information monopoly, putting them at great risk. This film accompanies these brave young cyberfeminists on perilous journeys. Eyewitness reports and clandestine footage show Sánchez's brutal beating by Cuban police for criticizing her country's regime; Chinese human rights activist Jinyan under house arrest for four years; and Iranian journalist and women's advocate Seifi forced into exile, where she blogs under a pseudonym. Tracing each woman's use of social media to denounce and combat violations of human rights and free speech in her home country, FORBIDDEN VOICES attests to the Internet's potential for building international awareness and political pressure.
Learn more

Playing With Fire: Women Actors Of Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, women deciding to be actors make a dangerous choice. Banned under Taliban rule (1994-2001), Afghan theater is experiencing a comeback with many women at the forefront. But with powerful forces of Islamic fundamentalism, a resurgent Taliban, and patriarchal traditions in play, actresses often face the harshest criticism and are even sometimes viewed as prostitutes. Socially ostracized, and pressured to abandon their careers, they receive beatings and death threats for them and their family. Some are forced to flee the country and some are even killed. PLAYING WITH FIRE introduces us to six courageous Afghan women who share their passions for acting, dreams, and difficult realities. They include Sajida, a student targeted by extremists; Monirah, besieged co-founder of an innovative women’s theater troupe; Tahera, forced into exile because of award-winning work at a theater festival; Roya, whose TV career brings her constant harassment; and Leena and Breshna, unprotected by their stage and motion picture fame. Filmmaker Anneta Papathanassiou exposes pervasive erosions of Afghan women’s rights. Her timely, eye-opening documentary perfectly captures art’s transformative power and the dangers these courageous women face to do the work they love.
Learn more

A Thousand Girls Like Me

The story of a young Afghan woman’s brave fight for justice after experiencing years of abuse at the hands of her father.
Learn more

I Am the Revolution

A Portrait of Three Women in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq Leading the Fight for Gender Equality
Learn more

Nada's Revolution

A coming of age story in the wake of the Arab Spring, NADA’S REVOLUTION is an intimate portrait of a young, post-revolution Egyptian woman fighting for her freedom and independence in a society caught between old traditions and modernization. Amidst the political turmoil that has paralyzed Egypt for almost three years, we follow Nada’s struggle to establish herself as an independent woman and theater professional as she sets out to make her old dream come true: to work with children’s theater. When the revolution broke out in 2011, Nada–like many other young women–was full of energy and hope. But in the aftermath of the revolution and when the election of President Morsi further pushes the country into political turmoil, the situation appears hopeless. Nada is confronted with the question of how to stay true to her own dreams, while conservative ideas about gender roles and women’s freedom are hard to change. Nada’s fight is not over.
Learn more

Search for Freedom

SEARCH FOR FREEDOM traces the dramatic social and political history of Afghanistan from the 1920s to the present through the stories of four remarkable women: Princess Shafiqa Saroj, sister of the beloved progressive King Amanullah (1919-1929); Mairman Parveen, the first woman to sing on Afghan radio; Moshina, a war widow and survivor of a Taliban massacre; and Sohaila, an exiled medical student who ran underground schools for RAWA (Revolutionary Association of Afghan Women) during the Taliban regime. Through their personal stories, a surprising portrait of Afghanistan’s history emerges. Stunning archival footage from the early 20th century captures a time of remarkable progress and freedom for women that belies most Western perceptions. Other historical footage and Jahnagir’s incisive commentary reveal women’s realities and resilience under near constant occupation, first with the Soviet invasion, then under the mujahadeen and more recently under the repressive Taliban. Defying and clarifying the image of Afghan women as mere victims, SEARCH FOR FREEDOM offers a nuanced portrait of women who find choices where none are offered, who continue to find hope in the face of exile and isolation.
Learn more
Shopping Cart