What Tomorrow Brings:

About the film

Click the play button on the image above to watch the trailer.

Synopsis

With unprecedented access, WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS goes inside the very first girls’ school in one small Afghan village. From the school’s beginnings in 2009 to its first graduation in 2015, the film traces the interconnected stories of students, teachers, village elders, parents, and school founder Razia Jan. Filmmaker Beth Murphy embeds herself in this school and community for a most intimate look at what it really means to be a girl growing up in Afghanistan today.

Awards

2016 Woods Hole Film Festival – Audience Award/Best of the Festival winner
2016 Hotdocs official selection
2016 Newburyport Documentary Film Festival official selection
2016 Camden International Film Festival official selection

In the news

“One U.S. woman’s vision is changing the lives of girls in rural Afghanistan” – New York Times (Mar. 4, 2016)
“‘Twas The Night Before Graduation” – Huffington Post (Dec. 14, 2015)
Ominous signs en route to a unique school for girls in Afghanistan – Public Radio International (Aug. 29, 2015)

Click here for more news and blog posts about WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS.

What Tomorrow Brings:

Watch the film

No screenings at this time.

What Tomorrow Brings:

Resources for educators

To help your students get the most out of the WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS educational experience, download the study guide that has been written to accompany the film. Written by The HotDocs Docs for Schools Program, the WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS curriculum is designed to help explore essential questions and provide discussion resources.

Download the Education Package from the HotDocs Docs for School Program.

What Tomorrow Brings:

Credits

Director/Producer

Beth Murphy

Edited by
Mary Lampson
Kevin Belli
Nathan Tisdale

Cinematography
Kevin Belli
Elissa Bogos Mirzaei
Beth Murphy

Executive Producer
Charles Sennott
Debra McLeod

Co-Producer
Nathan Tisdale

Associate Producer
Ashima Duggal
Peter Norton

Music by Oovra Music

Music Producer and Editor
Benjamin Krause

Post Production Facility
the OutPost at WGBH

Colorist / Online Editor
Jim Ferguson

Sound Mix
John Jenkins, CAS

SYNOPSIS

With unprecedented access, “What Tomorrow Brings” goes inside the very first girls’ school in one small Afghan village. Never before have fathers here allowed their daughters to be educated, and they aren’t sure they even want to now. From the school’s beginnings in 2009 to its first graduation in 2015, the film traces the interconnected stories of students, teachers, village elders, parents, and school founder Razia Jan.

While the girls learn to read and write, their education goes far beyond the classroom to become lessons about tradition and time. They discover their school is the one place they can turn to understand the differences between the lives they were born into and the lives they dream of leading. And although remarkable changes happen when a community skeptical about girls’ education learns to embrace it, the threats that girls face – from forced marriage to Taliban attack – loom large.

Filmmaker Beth Murphy embeds herself in this school and community for a most intimate look at what it really means to be a girl growing up in Afghanistan today.