Fremont
Take a look in advance
Afghan Donya worked as a translator for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. After leaving the army, she is in danger because, according to the Taliban, she was working for the enemy. Therefore, she gets permission to settle in the US. Here she feels lonely, sad and displaced. At the same time, she wants to make something of her life. To do so, she must come to terms with her guilt over those she had to leave behind in Afghanistan. She was one of three translators; one translator was killed while waiting for his visa approval and the other was still waiting for his paperwork when Donya left.
Donya joins a Chinese fortune cookie...
Afghan Donya worked as a translator for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. After leaving the army, she is in danger because, according to the Taliban, she was working for the enemy. Therefore, she gets permission to settle in the US. Here she feels lonely, sad and displaced. At the same time, she wants to make something of her life. To do so, she must come to terms with her guilt over those she had to leave behind in Afghanistan. She was one of three translators; one translator was killed while waiting for his visa approval and the other was still waiting for his paperwork when Donya left.
Donya goes to work at a Chinese fortune cookie company in San Francisco where she puts one lucky message after another into the cookies. She wants some of that luck herself, and during a eureka moment, Donya puts a personal bill and her phone number in one of the cookies. This unusual action has unusual, and also comic, consequences in this hushed, melancholy, but also humorous film. As director Babak Jalali says, "Showing the absurdities of cultural adaptation and feelings of displacement can also be presented through humor. This does not harm the seriousness or depth of a story. It can make it even more real and add layers."
Anaita Well Zada plays a terrific lead role as Donya. She herself fled Afghanistan in 2021 - which adds depth to her role. Both she and her sister Taban Ibraz were visible TV journalists in Kabul and made entertaining talk shows. Both were also well aware that as journalists they could be targeted and killed by the Taliban. In August 2021, the Taliban suddenly found themselves at the gates of Kabul and the sisters fled to the U.S.