Kimberley Motley doesn’t believe in “boxes.” This may be why the 38-year-old wife, mother, former “Mrs. Wisconsin” and defense lawyer of African-American and Korean descent has found herself successfully practicing law in Afghanistan.
Motley now finds herself in the public sphere, on the TED Talks stage, and up close in a documentary by Danish filmmaker Nicole Nielsen Horanyi, called “Motley’s Law.” The documentary will screen for free at Star Hall, 159 E. Center St., on Thursday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m., thanks to the Utah Film Center and the Grand County Public Library.
Grand County Public Library Assistant Jessie Magleby says the Utah Film Center looks for ways to promote women in film.
“Last year, 31 percent of the films screened were directed or co-directed by women, which is three times higher than the industry average,” Magleby says. “The Grand County Public Library is proud to partner with this organization.”
Motley has gained global recognition as the first and only foreign lawyer with a license to work in Afghan courts. The fact that she is a woman in Afghanistan is just one more box that this “feisty, tough as nails and down-to-earth attorney” refuses to acknowledge, according to an interview Motley did with IndieWire in October 2015.
Motley says her upbringing in “a bad neighborhood” prepared her for her life in Afghanistan.
She first went to the country as part of a U.S. State Department program intended to train Afghan lawyers in 2008. Motley admits she set out for financial reasons, intending to pay off student loans with the nine-month program. However, when Motley became aware of the exploitation and corruption in Kabul, she decided to open up a private practice.
The film follows Motley in Afghanistan and captures her character in many lights.
Motley, clad in professional Western attire, commands action through women’s prisons and juvenile detention facilities. She gives several interviews to outside journalists, and is even captured doing a magazine photo shoot on an Afghan rooftop in a strapless dress. She Skypes with her husband daily, and keeps photographs of her children close at hand. For three months of the year, she returns home to Charlotte, North Carolina.
Back in Afghanistan, Taliban attacks and suicide bombings remain a constant threat. Through the use of television footage and radio broadcasts, filmmaker Horanyi keeps the audience of “Motley’s Law” plugged into the contemporary reality of Afghan life.
Motley’s dedication and resilience in Afghanistan has amazed many of her audiences and interviewers, who have even called her “thrill-seeking.”
Yet Motley’s tough “just don’t think about it” defense caved after a close encounter at the Kabul Serena Hotel, where she had checked in only 15 minutes before four teenage attackers killed nine hotel guests. Shortly after, she decided to move her home office to a secret address.
Motley has gained a reputation as a human rights lawyer, but notes that she is a private international litigator. Her main motive is to uphold the protection that every human being and entity deserves under their country’s laws – even when that law is being forgotten or ignored.
The film poses the question as to how far Motley will go, and to what end, while also delivering a sense of justice for humanity that knows no exceptions and no limitations.
“Motley’s Law” is the winner of the 2015 Grand Jury Prize in New York City and the 2015 Best Female Director in the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA); it was also an Official Selection at the 2015 Chicago International Film Festival.
The film is presented in English and Dari, Pashtu and Bantu, with English subtitles.
Motley’s dedication and resilience in Afghanistan has amazed many of her audiences and interviewers, who have even called her “thrill-seeking.”
When: Thursday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m.
Where: Star Hall, 159 E. Center St.
Cost: Free
Information: www.utahfilmcenter.org/events/category/moab/upcoming/
For more information about “Motley’s Law” and upcoming movies at Star Hall, go to: www.utahfilmcenter.org/events/category/moab/upcoming/.
