“Sonita,” a film that that played at True/False Film Fest, demonstrates the extreme power of when a massive dream meets an unflappable work ethic.

This documentary tells the story of Sonita Alizadeh, a teenage girl from Afghanistan who fled to Iran when she was still a child. Sonita’s family wants to sell her as a bride to a man back in Afghanistan in order to pay for a wife for her older brother.

Sonita has a different plan for her life; she wants to be a rapper.

In an early shot in the film, Sonita cuts out a picture of her own face and tapes it over a picture of singer Rihanna in a scrapbook. She points at the massive crowd cheering on the artists and says that is what she wants in her life.

During a class in an Iranian community center, the girls are asked to draw their dream passport. Sonita creates an American model, listing Rihanna and Michael Jackson as her parents.

Her dream can’t be squashed by the government, her parents or her peers, and the film takes great care to acknowledge just how much is stacked against her.

In Iran, a female singing any type of solo is illegal. Her family doesn’t have enough money to pay rent, let alone fund a recording session to get her music out in the world, not that they would pay even if they could.

While Sonita is facing all of these challenges, filmmaker Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami is faced with an opportunity to help her temporarily escape several of these challenges.

Instead of secretly influencing the film by giving Sonita money, or completely writing off the support as unethical, Maghami chose to include this decision-making process in the documentary itself, giving audiences a rare peek into the mind of a filmmaker onscreen.

Aside from showing an unfamiliar character from the Middle East to Western audiences, “Sonita” also challenges the image that has been crafted of Iran and Afghanistan.

This film shows more than desert and poverty in these countries. Sonita’s young niece blows bubbles into the camera lens and takes pictures on a cell phone. The cameraman follows her into a heavily guarded but luxurious hotel where they stay in Afghanistan.

Anyone who sees “Sonita” will come out of the film with a wider view of the world and I can’t see how anyone could possibly regret the experience of “Sonita.”

_MOVE gives “Sonita” 5 out of 5 stars_