Azza

Azza

Synopsis

Azza had to compromise her life for others since she was a child. Rebellious as a girl she was married at 16, had four children and had no right to continue her education. Through a smart trick she managed to get divorced after years of being stuck in an abusive marriage. As a divorced woman she was banned from her family and was not allowed to see her children. Her solitude forced her into a new marriage, after which she was accepted back into her family.
As Azza is caught up by the traumas of her past, she’s struggling in everyday life, but always finds a way to go on. Without a school certificate, she cannot find a job, works freelance as a driving teacher for women and is always out of money. She tries to have a career to improve her life and this of her five children. By all means she does not want her teenage daughters to experience what she went through. But she’s constantly confronted with the rules of her authoritarian society.
Azza escapes on a road trip to the desert where she discovers her country and herself. Driving has become the tool to freedom, not only in Azza’s life, but in most women’s lives.

Shot over three years the documentary is an intimate look into the life of Azza, her native country and the changing society caught up between tradition and modernity.

Credits

Length 90 min
Director Stefanie Brockhaus
Writer Stefanie Brockhaus
Producer Hans Robert Eisenhauer

Cast Azza Al Shareef