Berlin Film Festival opens with Afghan film 'No Good Men'

The 76th Berlin Film Festival opened with Shahrbanoo Sadat's film 'No Good Men', which follows a woman rethinking relationships and draws on scenes from the 2021 Kabul withdrawal.

Shahrbanoo Sadat's film 'No Good Men' was selected to open the 76th Berlin Film Festival. The film centers on Naru, a woman whose view of relationships shifts through a growing friendship with a colleague. Sadat both directed and stars in the film and said she wanted Afghan stories told by Afghans. The film draws on events around the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and mixes footage shot in Germany with archive material. Key details: - 'No Good Men' was presented as the festival opener and is written, directed and led by Shahrbanoo Sadat. - The narrative follows Naru, who reassesses her past relationships amid social and political change. - The film references the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and combines scenes filmed in northern Germany with archive footage from Kabul. - Sadat said she drew on her personal experience of leaving Kabul in 2021 and dedicated the film in part to journalists from Tolo TV who died in a 2016 attack. Summary: The film foregrounds Afghan perspectives and explores how women navigated personal and professional space before 2021. Undetermined at this time.