PRIFF 2026: Women of Resistance

Part of PRIFF 2026, now in its fifth year, Women of Resistance opens this year’s festival programme with two powerful stories of women confronting systems designed to control, silence and displace them.

Sister Anna takes us to early 19th-century Yorkshire, where a young woman fleeing her violent brother seeks refuge with the man she loves inside a strict Moravian settlement. Her choices come at an enormous personal cost, yet help shape the formidable woman she will later become as she fights to secure her rightful inheritance.

In Brishkay Ahmed’s documentary In the Room, five Afghan women reflect on exile, freedom, equality and the country they have been forced to leave behind. Through intimate and deeply personal conversations, they explore Afghanistan’s history, complexity and beauty while continuing to use their voices on the international stage.

Together, the two films examine resistance across very different periods and places, asking what it means for women to challenge the structures around them, to endure displacement and violence, and to continue fighting for agency, identity and belonging.e whole weekend, PRIFF is where you'll find the films — and the craft behind them — that don't fit anywhere else.

Info: Set in early 19th-century Yorkshire, Sister Anna follows a young woman fleeing her violent brother who seeks refuge with the man she loves inside a strict Moravian settlement. The decision will cost her almost everything, but will help shape the formidable woman she becomes decades later as she fights to secure her rightful inheritance.

The film is directed by Welsh filmmaker Emma Morley, whose previous shorts have screened at BAFTA-qualifying festivals including Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival and Carmarthen Bay Film Festival. Alongside directing, Morley has an extensive background in film and television production, with credits including Poldark, Tina and Bobby and I Hate Suzie.

Info: In In the Room, five Afghan women forced into exile come together through a shared commitment to freedom, equality and the future of their homeland. Through a series of candid conversations, they reflect on Afghanistan’s history, beauty and struggle, while confronting the personal realities of displacement and continuing to make their voices heard on the international stage.

The film is directed by Brishkay Ahmed, an Afghan-Canadian filmmaker whose documentaries include In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland, Unveiled: The Kohistan Video Scandal and Story of Burqa. Her work has received support from organisations including the National Film Board of Canada, CBC and Super Channel, while In the Rumbling Belly of Motherland was nominated for the DGC Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary and won Outstanding Feature Film at the Reelworld Film Festival.

Info: Q&A TBC

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