Director: Sahraa Karimi

Cast: Arezoo Ariapoor, Fereshta Afshar, Hasiba Ebrahimi

Hava, Maryam, Ayeshe is a 2020 Iranian drama film directed by Sahraa Karimi, following three Afghan women in Kabul whose lives converge around a single, life-altering predicament — each facing an unplanned pregnancy alone, without the support of the men who were supposed to be by their side.

What is Hava, Maryam, Ayeshe about?

In Kabul, three women from starkly different walks of life find themselves grappling with the same impossible situation at the same moment. Hava is a soft-spoken, traditional woman living under her in-laws' roof, largely invisible to everyone around her, who finds meaning only in whispered conversations with her unborn child. Maryam is a confident television news anchor on the verge of divorcing her unfaithful husband — until a discovery upends her carefully laid plans. Ayesha, just eighteen, is pressed by her family into marrying a cousin after the young man who got her pregnant vanishes the moment he hears the news. None of these women can turn to anyone else. Each must find her own way through.

Cast & crew

Director Sahraa Karimi, an Afghan-Iranian filmmaker, brings a precise and patient eye to the material, drawing restrained, lived-in performances from her three leads. Arezoo Ariapoor plays the quietly enduring Hava, Fereshta Afshar inhabits the steely resilience of Maryam, and Hasiba Ebrahimi conveys the terror and determination of the youngest protagonist, Ayesha, with striking naturalism.

Context & significance

Released in 2020, Hava, Maryam, Ayeshe arrived at a moment of intense international attention on Afghan women's lives and rights. The film draws on a long tradition of social realist Iranian and Afghan cinema — observational, closely focused on domestic space, letting systemic pressures emerge through intimate human moments rather than political speeches. For the Persian-speaking diaspora, it offers something rare: a portrait of Afghan women told from the inside, with empathy and without exoticism. The three-strand structure echoes classic Persian storytelling while updating it with a contemporary feminist lens. At 86 minutes it moves with quiet urgency, and its emotional weight lingers well past the final scene.

Where & how to watch

Hava, Maryam, Ayeshe is available on K-Time with original audio and English subtitles. No VPN needed — stream on the web, on your TV, or on your phone, wherever you are. Cancel anytime.