Sahraa Karimi is a film director, scriptwriter, and university lecturer from Afghanistan. She immigrated to Slovakia in 2001 and studied at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts, earning a PhD in Film Studies. Upon returning to Kabul in 2012, she founded Kapila Multimedia House to support independent Afghan filmmakers. She became the first woman to head the state film organization in Afghanistan. Forced to leave Afghanistan in 2021, she taught at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematographia in Rome and received a filmmaking fellowship at The New School. With a filmography of 30 successful films, she has won multiple international awards and served on film festival juries. Her debut feature film, "Hava, Maryam, Ayesha," premiered at the Venice Film Festival and represented Afghanistan at the Academy Awards. She is currently working on her second feature film, "Flight from Kabul," in collaboration with producers from Slovakia, Italy, and France.