Project Detail

Women Behind the Wheel

Synopsis

Cat and Hannah, two British women in their twenties, take on the gruelling 3000km drive along Central Asia's Pamir Highway - the second highest international road on Earth. It runs from southern Uzbek deserts, through Tajikistan's Pamir mountain range, climbing over 4600m, into Kyrgyzstan and all the way to its vibrant capital, Bishkek.
Their route brings them to the doorsteps of women from all walks of life, revealing a women's movement that's had as many ups and downs as the drive itself. A 78 year-old gynaecologist recalls the turbulent transition from Soviet rule to independence, and testimonies of domestic abuse, 'bride kidnapping' and religious extremism expose the region's complex attitude to women's rights.
But despite the evident patriarchal oppression in these countries, it's certainly not the whole picture. Stories of female empowerment against all odds emerge, from a group training Tajikistan's first ever female trekking guides to a feminist collective running workshops on sexual pleasure.
Cat and Hannah gain unprecedented access to over 50 women. Their testimonies shed light on a women’s movement largely ignored by Western media.
This is a story of female emancipation and solidarity across different cultures that have a lot more in common than they might have thought.

Details

Year
2022
Type of film
Features
Running time
97 min
Director
Hannah Congdon, Catherine Haigh
Producer
Hannah Congdon, Catherine Haigh
Executive Producer
Christopher Hird, Cathleen Trigg
Editor
Anna Zavialova, Jake Kennedy
Director of Photography
Hannah Congdon, Catherine Haigh
Composer
Hollie Buhagiar

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Dartmouth Films

Somerset House
West Wing, Room S12
Strand
London
WC2R 1LA

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Spacewoman Spacewoman

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle.<br /> Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all.<br /> At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? <br /> This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. <br /> Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere<br /> Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

Gans'n Dhama Wedhen (In the Company of the Mother Tree) Gans'n Dhama Wedhen (In the Company of the Mother Tree)

Director: Adam Laity

Year: 2025

An immersive 360° film poem from the heart of a Cornish temperate rainforest. The voice of the Mother Tree introduces us to the sounds, sights and more-than-human characters of the ancient woodland, encouraging us to think of time as trees do, in hundreds or even thousands of years.

Dr. XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology Dr. XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology

Director: El Jones (Jaunts)

Year: 2024

Impersonating the style of an NHS training films from 1960s-70s and shot on 16mm, the film is an exercise in queering the healthcare information film. Using a collated archive of healthcare experiences recorded with Birmingham's trans+ community the film explores the critical state of trans healthcare in the UK through ‘medical drag’ re-enactments.