Hot Docs 2018: Laila at the Bridge

The horrors of addiction and drug dependence have categorically ravaged Afghanistan following the invasion by the United States army. Now, a bag of heroin costs $2, less than a meal. As a result, the country is flooded with addicts. Enter Laila, a former child bride who has dealt with addiction in her family before. She is determined to provide assistance for the addicts, to give them hope and a way back to a fulfilling life. Her main haunt is underneath a bridge where heroin users congregate in her home town of Kabul.

Laila at the Bridge details this woman’s attempts to make her community a better place through a narcotics anonymous program. Co-directed by Gulistan and Elizabeth Mirzaei, this is a raw, uncompromising film that doesn’t shy away from some absolutely brutal imagery. We see toddlers without parents and people with vacant eyes who have lost half of their lives…