No Good Men
- Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Afghanistan
- 2026
- 103'
- Must See Must Be
This was the official opening film at the Berlin International Film Festival. It is 2021 in Afghanistan, shortly before the Taliban regime is reinstalled in the country. Naru, the only camera operator working for the main television station in Kabul, fights for custody over her three-year-old son. Having left her adulterous husband, she now believes that ‘good men’ simply do not exist in her country. Her attitude is put to a test when Qodrat, the most important reporter working for the Kabul TV, invites Naru to work with him. As they travel around Kabul to give a live report about the very last days of relative freedom, more and more tension and intimacy start to build between them. Naru begins to question her own beliefs. Are there really no good men left around? ‘No Good Men’ is a story that deals with trust, loss, and the political reality in which the emotions of individuals get caught up in the world that is falling apart.
- Directed by: Shahrbanoo Sadat
- Screenplay: Shahrbanoo Sadat
- Photography: Virginie Surdej
- Editing: Alexandra Strauss
- Music: Harpreet Bansal, Therese Aune, Kristian Eidnes
- Sound Engineering: Anne Gry Friis Kristensen, Sigrid DPA Jensen
- Production Design: Pegah Ghalambor
- Costume Design: Pola Kardum
- Cast: Shahrbanoo Sadat, Anwar Hashimi
- Producers: Katja Adomeit, Shahrbanoo Sadat, Jeppe Wowk, Marina Perales Marhuenda, Xavier Rocher, Ingvil Sæther Berger, Balthasar Busmann, Maxi Haslberger
- Production: Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Afghanistan
A film director from Afghanistan, now living in Germany. At 19, she was selected as the youngest resident at the Cinéfondation Residence, a foundation curated by the Cannes Film Festival, where she worked in her début film ‘Wolf and Sheep’ (2016). The film was nominated for the Caméra d’Or Award, and won the Art Cinema Award in the Directors’ Fortnight section. Her sophomore film ‘The Orphanage’ (2019) had a première at Cannes IFF as well. Her film work is designed as a five-piece project based on an autobiographical manuscript penned by Anwar Hashimi. The film ‘No Good Men’ constitutes the third part of the project.
