Zarca Yeftali documentary wins Cannes award as one employee remains detained
As the Taliban administration’s restrictions on girls’ education and the work of civil society organisations continue, the documentary film *Education of Hope in Afghanistan: The Story of Zarca* has won the Silver Dolphin award at France’s Cannes Media and Television Awards, drawing renewed outside attention to Afghan women’s struggle to preserve the right to education.
According to Irav, the documentary was among the selected works for the 2026 edition of the competition, an annual event that evaluates organisational, documentary, television and online media productions and is regarded as one of Europe’s well-known media programmes.
The film was made in collaboration with the production company People and with support from the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, a prize that, according to the source, also named Zarca Yeftali among its 2026 winners. The documentary focuses on Yeftali’s efforts to defend the rights of women and children and to support girls’ education in Afghanistan, activities that have continued under pressure and threats linked to the Taliban administration’s restrictions.
Zarca Yeftali, a social activist from Badakhshan, has spent years working to improve Afghan girls’ access to education and now lives in Canada. She is a well-known figure in the defence of women’s rights and has repeatedly warned about the Taliban administration’s policies restricting girls’ education.
Alongside the documentary’s international recognition, the case of Yeftali’s colleagues is also being cited as an example of pressure on civil society institutions. According to the report, Taliban administration forces raided the office of the Women and Children’s Rights Research Organisation in Kabul — an institution founded by Yeftali — on 21 May, seized employees’ electronic equipment and shut down the office.
The source added that on 18 July, six employees of the organisation were detained by the Taliban administration’s intelligence service when they went to retrieve the confiscated items. After 68 days, five of them were released on 21 September, but Abdul Mateen Hakimi, according to the report, remains in Taliban detention.
After the release of her five colleagues, Yeftali said Hakimi’s wife, three children and family are waiting for his return, and called for his immediate and unconditional release. According to reports, these people were detained because of their research and educational work and their efforts to defend women’s rights and girls’ education, and the Taliban administration has so far given no explanation for their arrests.
