At Cannes Lions 2025, Sonita Alizadeh is awarded the LionHeart for her courageous advocacy and emotional session on resisting erasure and reclaiming futures.
Earlier that day, Sonita appeared in an emotional session at the Debussy Theatre, in conversation with Paul Kemp-Robertson, Chief Content Officer of Lions. Breaking down multiple times during the talk, she detailed the threats she and her friends faced — not just from marriage, but from the systematic erasure of their futures.
She also spoke of her educational initiative, Arezo and The Dreams Book, a secret school for Afghan girls who are banned from attending regular classes under Taliban law.
“Dreams are the ultimate weapon. And this is something the Taliban hates — because they know we exist, and we will not stop.”
Sonita used her Cannes LionHeart platform to make a clear appeal to the global creative community:
“The most powerful weapon is our voice. I want you to support other women. For media and brands to not use our stories for marketing and entertaining, but to invest in powerful stories to amplify the message. To invest the money, the power, the time where it really needs to be invested — in girls and families.”
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