We Are Ayenda is a half-hour documentary that tells the story of the Afghan Girls National Football Team and their heroic escape from Afghanistan after the Taliban took power in 2021. This work is relevant for Film Craft because it is a gripping piece of cinema that leverages a wide range of filmmaking techniques to make a powerful connection with audiences. Highlighting the power of privacy, the life or death story follows the profound relationship that develops between Farkhunda Muhtaj, the former captain of Afghanistan’s women’s national football team and humanitarian activist, and the teenage members of the youth team.

When it comes to privacy, no messaging app is more secure than WhatsApp. We Are Ayenda was created for WhatsApp to authentically demonstrate how the features that make it secure help to create a safe space for connection through a story that would resonate with the global diaspora of young women.

Primarily targeting the global diaspora of young women, the idea behind this work was to show the possibilities for women when they’re able to share safely within their sisterhood. The prevailing message of the film is that privacy fosters a safe space that allows us to overcome anything together.

The film pushes WhatsApp’s product truth to the extreme, where privacy is a necessity for survival, and every layer makes that much more of a difference. For the 20 days of hiding for these women, we see them becoming safer and more open with each other as they increase their usage of WhatsApp and all the privacy features within it.

The documentary launched on Amazon Prime Video during the first week of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, placing the film in the center of the cultural conversation at just the right moment. Intending to reach a range of international markets, We Are Ayenda now lives on Amazon Prime Video, along with supporting assets to amplify the story across WhatsApp channels and other paid media support.

We Are Ayenda is a half-hour documentary that tells the story of the Afghan Girls National Football Team and their heroic escape from Afghanistan after the Taliban took power in 2021. The life or death story follows the profound relationship that develops between Farkhunda Muhtaj, the former captain of Afghanistan’s women’s national football team and humanitarian activist, and the teenage members of the youth team. Despite never having met in person, Muhtaj leads the young women to safety via WhatsApp texts and voice messages, which are woven throughout the documentary to retell their story.

When it comes to privacy, no messaging app is more secure than WhatsApp. The film’s job was to authentically demonstrate how the features that make WhatsApp secure help to create a safe space for connection through a story that would resonate. Rather than simply talk about what makes WhatsApp so private, We Are Ayenda set out to create an emotional connection to the brand by capturing the powerful transformation its privacy features enable in the lives of vulnerable WhatsApp users.

While much was made of the Afghan Women’s National Team’s experience after the Taliban took over, we uncovered the little known story of the teenaged girls team’s heroic escape and set out to share it with the world. We Are Ayenda not only shows the brand’s privacy features in action, it also positions WhatsApp as a lifeline and a safe space for those who need it most.

Interweaving emotional interviews with harrowing archival footage and the real text messages shared by the teen players as they used their WhatsApp group chat to secretly orchestrate their escape, the film reveals the bravery of these young women and their determination to continue playing the sport they love. The film’s direction captures the high stakes, ultimately telling a gripping story. “To help them escape successfully, I knew the stakes were extremely high for secure communication,” said Farkhunda Muhtaj. “If something was intercepted, whether it be their passports or IDs, not only would the mission be jeopardized but everyone's life would be at risk.”

The film’s direction leans into an emotive, consequential privacy user story. Furthermore, the theme of “women and safety” provided an easily understood and captivating framework that allows the value of WhatsApp’s privacy to be felt around the world.