No Good Men

“There are no good men in Afghanistan!” The line lands like a verdict, sharp yet somehow also weary, echoing through Shahrbanoo Sadat’s disarmingly tender film. From a vivid, Bollywood-like opening sequence of blooming flowers and pop music, Sadat builds a world where colour and life persist on the edge of the abyss. Set in Kabul in 2021, on the brink of the Taliban’s return, the film follows Naru, a television cameraperson fighting for the custody of her son and clinging to her distrust of men, who is played with lively grace by screenwriter-director Sadat. When Naru is paired with seasoned reporter Qodrat (co-screenwriter Anwar Hashimi), professional tension gradually shifts into respect and an uneasy intimacy. Their exchanges are biting, ironic and at times caring, cutting through a world where women are expected to remain silent, adapt and endure. Sadat moves fluidly between humour and devastation: from moments of subversive female solidarity to candid street interviews and the gradual collapse of a society. Shot partly in Hamburg while evoking a Kabul equal parts present and displaced, the film resists easy despair, culminating in a poignant finale where hope still lingers even as catastrophe seeps in. (Maria Giovanna Vagenas)

In the presence of Anwar Hashimi.
The conversation on the 23th of October will be sign interpreted. Prior registration requested. More info here.

This film is part of the VIENNALE DEBUT CARD: Register for your free card now and get one ticket for this film at the special price of € 8,50. More Info here.

Shahrbanoo Sadat (selection): NOT AT HOME (2013, KO-REGIE), WOLF AND SHEEP (2016), THE ORPHANAGE (2019)