The Breadwinner

In Kabul under Taliban rule, eleven-year-old Parvana works in the market with her father, reading and writing letters for people who cannot. When he is arrested there is no man left in the house, and because women cannot go out alone the family cannot even buy food. Parvana cuts her hair and starts working as a boy. She is also telling a story she has invented, which the film renders in a separate animation style. Nora Twomey directed for the Irish studio Cartoon Saloon. The source is a novel by the Canadian writer Deborah Ellis. It is a Canadian, Irish and Luxembourgish co-production. Angelina Jolie came on as executive producer. Twomey approached her directly; Jolie had worked in Afghanistan as a UNHCR goodwill ambassador on education for girls. It screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017 and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 90th Academy Awards, losing to Coco. Who it is for: viewers who like animation that carries adult subjects and Cartoon Saloon's hand-drawn manner. Who it is not for: anyone putting it on as a children's film. Violence and repression are shown directly and the ending offers no relief.