Nora Twomey’s animated film The Breadwinner, based on the eponymous children’s novel by Deborah Ellis, tells the story of an eleven-year-old Afghani girl named Parvana, living in Taliban-ruled Kabul. When Parvana’s father, a street vendor and a former teacher who lost his leg during the Soviet-Afghan war, is arrested for offending a temperamental member of the Taliban, Parvana must dress as a boy to secure money and food for supporting her family, since girls are not entitled to go out in public unaccompanied. Parvana teams up with another female classmate, Shauzia, who she finds is also dressed as a boy, and a youthful tale of female empowerment, hope and the harsh realities of terror unfolds. Together, the two heroines, disguised as boys, take on hard labour jobs. Shauzia aims to earn enough money to escape her abusive father and Parvana saves to pay the bribe required to get her father out of jail and then sets off on a mission to do so.