Beyond Belief
2007, 98 minutes
Director: Beth Murphy
Opens nationwide:
February 29, 2008
Cinema Village, New York, NY
March 1, 2008
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Check out more screenings.
Inspired by compassion for others, whose loss they recognize as mirroring their own, two courageous women whose husbands died on September 11 turn their grief into a catalyst for action. They travel to Kabul to help other widows, soon recognizing that the plight of the Afghan women leaves them feeling almost blessed. In English and Dari, Beyond Belief had its world premiere at the sixth annual Tribeca Film Festival, April 25–May 6, 2007.
Director’s Statement
In July 2000, I was teaching a journalism class at American University Paris and brought my students to Amnesty International for a conversation about genocide. As we were wrapping up, the Amnesty representative ushered us into a room and over to a large cardboard box with a bright blue fabric peeking out. “Have you ever worn a burqa before?” she asked. As I pulled the tent-like garment over my head and imagined being forced to wear it, I thought about what it would be like to be invisible to the world. That’s when I knew I wanted to produce a film about Afghanistan and help Afghan women to become visible again. The challenge was finding a way for the film to resonate with an American audience.
Director’s Bio
Beth Murphy has been directing, producing, and reporting for documentaries, television, and radio news for eighteen years. As the founder of Principle Pictures, Beth has contributed programming to The History Channel, Discovery Channel, Lifetime Television, PBS, and numerous international media outlets. She has won two Gracie Allen Awards from American Women in Radio and Television. Murphy is also an author (Fighting For Our Future) and a professor at Suffolk University and the American University Paris.
Click here to read an interview with Beth Murphy, Director of Beyond Belief