»BOY« is the story of the 13-year-old Farahnoz, who is growing up as a boy in the Afghan city of Mazar-I-Sharif. She plays football, rides a bicycle, goes to school, and helps her family by taking care of daily tasks. In contrast to other girls at her age, who have long been married off and have to stay at home, she enjoys the freedoms that are only reserved for men in Afghanistan.

Farahnoz was raised in the tradition of “Bacha Posh.” In Afghanistan, individual girls are raised as “Bacha Posh,” dressed and raised as boys from a young age. Even today, sons are worth more than daughters in Afghanistan – they are defenders, bank, and planning for old age. Mothers are considered failures if they do not produce a son and heir. If no son has been born after five children, then tradition allows the family to make the youngest daughter “Bacha Posh.” Better to have a fake son than none at all.

In a thoroughly patriarchal society, for many it appears to be the only way for a little free space – for the children themselves, but also for the families. The “Bacha Posh” assume tasks that are taboo for girls. In that way, the confident Farahnoz lives with her single parent older sister and takes on the role of head of the family, despite her youth. For the girls themselves, the masquerade means an enormous gain in terms of freedom. Yet everyone knows that this time of freedom could come to an end. After reaching puberty, most of the “Bacha Posh” girls will be married as “normal” girls. Farahnoz is anticipating this moment with fear.
The Afghan singer Elaha also knows the feeling. Now 24, the singer made the decision to pass as a boy in order to live a life of self-determination. She describes precisely how differently her environment responded, but also why the masquerade came to an end when she received murder threat from the Taliban as a young woman. Today she lives and works in London and is happy she no longer has to hide.

The directors Yalda Afsah and Ginan Seidel sketch a sensitive double portrait of two women who are positioned beyond all traditional gender roles and in that way call the system into question. With clearly drawn images concentrating on people as a part of their social surroundings, as well as repeatedly concentrating on details, the film comes very close to its protagonists.
Farahnoz and Elaha are impressive with their courage and decisiveness. At the same time, it becomes clearly visible where the will to freedom and self-determination hit up against the boundaries of encrusted societal prescriptions – whether in Afghanistan or Europe.