If Luck Will Come

In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, childhood ends abruptly. At fourteen, play gives way to silence, duty, and constraint. For twelve-year-olds Zahra and Zalgai, a children’s circus in Kabul offers a fleeting space of laughter, friendship, and bold dreams in a world already closing in. At twelve, they are mischievous and full of imagination; by fourteen, their futures are reshaped by forces far beyond their control.
Zahra, spirited and determined, knows that school and freedom will soon be taken from her simply because she is a girl. Zalgai, stepping up as his father falls ill, must balance his own ambitions with the heavy expectations of family responsibility.
Filmed over two transformative years, If Luck Will Come captures this fragile passage from childhood to adulthood under current Taliban rule. As responsibility looms, the circus becomes their final act of defiance. Through Zahra and Zalgai’s stories, the film reveals both the beauty and heartbreak of Afghan youth, where resilience and hope persist even as childhood is cut short. In a country where filming is increasingly restricted and internet access is being shut down to prevent any contact with the outside world, the film stands as a rare witness, offering testimony to lives the world is not meant to see. It shows that, even when silenced, the voices of Afghan children endure.