Sonita Alizadeh, who dreams of being a rapper, is the main subject of the 2016 documentary, “Sonita”

Valuable to her family as a bride to be sold, 17-year-old Sonita Alizadeh instead dreams of a becoming a rapper. As women are forbidden to sing in Iran, she performs only for her fellow refugees in a Tehran shelter.

“Sonita,” the April selection for the “Docunight: Iran via Documentaries” series, will be shown at 7 p.m. on April 5 at Mont Alto in the Mont Alto Campus Library and University Park. For the April event at University Park, the film screening will be held in 102 Chemistry Building. Co-sponsored by the Iranian Student Association and Penn State University Libraries, Docunight events are free and open to the public.

“Sonita” won the 2016 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for best world cinema documentary. Directed by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, the film focuses on the efforts to end child marriage and shows the risks and traditional obstacles for an Afghani family living in exile in Iran.

The Docunight series is an initiative to encourage cultural exchange and understanding of Iran through documentaries. The films are about, around, or in Iran, or made by Iranians, and the American showings are part of a collaboration with the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).

The Penn State News article is available online and an 8.5×11 poster PDF is available for download here. For more information on this event, or for questions about accommodations or the physical access provided, contact Mark Mattson, global partnerships and outreach librarian, at 814-863-2480 or mam1196@psu.edu in advance of the event.