{"id":55257,"date":"2026-03-17T16:47:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T16:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman"},"modified":"2026-03-17T17:26:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:26:01","slug":"freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman","title":{"rendered":"Freedom and Destiny of a Young Eritrean Woman"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

What You Need to Know<\/h4>\n

Swiss director Anne-Fr\u00e9d\u00e9rique Widmann’s documentary follows Shewit, a young Eritrean girl, as she navigates her journey to freedom in Switzerland. Through her story, the film sheds light on the often unheard voices of young girls in exile, emphasizing their struggles and aspirations for autonomy and a better life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Africa-Press – Eritrea. <\/strong> <\/span>For ten years, Swiss director Anne-Fre\u0301de\u0301rique Widmann followed Shewit, a 15-year-old girl she met who, after a long journey, arrived in Geneva in pursuit of her freedom.<\/b><\/p>\n

The director and the young girl found each other: one wanted to give a voice to young girls in exile who are rarely heard, and the other wanted to tell her story and her journey toward emancipation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we actually chose each other,” Widmann told Africanews.<\/p>\n

“It was 2015, at the time of the influx of unaccompanied minors, as they were called back then. In Geneva there were thousands of them crowded into a rather grim shelter. And suddenly I saw Shewit. She was the only young girl who agreed to speak, and the first thing she said to me was: \u2018I want to go to school.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning it was really just, okay, I want to talk, to show what life is like for a young girl who has just arrived in Switzerland,” Shewit says. “And it wasn\u2019t easy. So for me it was important. And as time passed, we realized it was interesting and that it could also help other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In search of the life she chose, Shewit is the main protagonist of the documentary , which is in competition at the Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights.<\/p>\n

Many milestones mark Shewit\u2019s life over ten years and throughout the film. The music of Coco Francavilla accompanies these emotions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear very, very little from young girls and young women. Suddenly I realized that a whole part of migration was being made invisible, where women spoke very little for different reasons,” Widmann says. “And I thought it was really important to talk about it, because women on this journey experience very hard things \u2014 men too \u2014 but young girls in particular.<\/p>\n

“And for them, I realized that the issue is not only about having a better life; it is also something else: a quest for freedom, taking back control of one\u2019s life, being able to make one\u2019s own choices, being autonomous, having an apartment, a job…\u201d<\/p>\n

Those are all things that Shewit has achieved:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have my apartment, my car, my job. So I have the life I wanted \u2014 my independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Far from her Eritrean compatriots who still live in the social conditions she fled, Shewit explains that leaving is not an easy solution. She encourages them to keep believing in themselves and to keep fighting, without letting themselves be influenced by societal norms.<\/p>\n

Eritrea has faced significant challenges since its independence in 1993, including political repression and economic difficulties, leading many to seek refuge abroad. The plight of Eritrean refugees, particularly women and girls, has gained international attention, highlighting their unique struggles in migration. Documentaries like Widmann’s serve to amplify these voices, offering insights into their experiences and the broader implications of migration policies. The narrative of young women like Shewit is crucial in understanding the complexities of displacement and the pursuit of freedom.<\/p>\n

Find more news and analyses on Eritrea<\/span> on the Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What You Need to Know Swiss director Anne-Fr\u00e9d\u00e9rique Widmann’s documentary follows Shewit, a young Eritrean girl, as she navigates her journey to freedom in Switzerland. Through her story, the film sheds light on the often unheard voices of young girls in exile, emphasizing their struggles and aspirations for autonomy and a better life. Africa-Press – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":55256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[507,1487,233,7934,1058,7935,662,604],"class_list":["post-55257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","tag-cinema","tag-documentary","tag-eritrea","tag-freedom","tag-immigration","tag-independence","tag-migration","tag-womens-rights"],"yoast_head":"\nFreedom and Destiny of a Young Eritrean Woman - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore the inspiring story of Shewit, a young Eritrean woman, in a documentary highlighting her journey to freedom and self-\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Freedom and Destiny of a Young Eritrean Woman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explore the inspiring story of Shewit, a young Eritrean woman, in a documentary highlighting her journey to freedom and self-\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eritrea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-17T16:47:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-17T17:26:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/03\/sm_1773767724.460025.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Freedom and Destiny of a Young Eritrean Woman\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-17T16:47:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-17T17:26:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman\"},\"wordCount\":581,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2026\/03\/sm_1773767724.460025.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Cinema\",\"documentary\",\"Eritrea\",\"freedom\",\"Immigration\",\"Independence\",\"migration\",\"Women's rights\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/freedom-and-destiny-of-a-young-eritrean-woman\",\"name\":\"Freedom and Destiny of a Young Eritrean Woman - 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