As the only camerawoman in a major Kabul newsroom, Naru contends with not just workplace drudgery, but also the condescension that comes with being a woman in an excessively patriarchal space. Between dealing with her deadbeat husband and her patronizing colleagues, Naru is convinced that there are “no good men” left in Afghanistan. But when she starts operating the camera for Qodrat, the station’s star reporter, her guarded outlook starts to shift. Against a backdrop of mounting crises, the two navigate an environment where freedom proves fragile.
Set in the leadup to the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, No Good Men adroitly balances the verve and energy of a romantic comedy with the sobering realism of a political exposé. As writer, director, and star, Shahrbanoo Sadat offers a much-needed female perspective on this critical moment of recent history. Moving fleetly between moments of levity and terror, the film trains its lens on those who pay most when freedoms erode.
Shahrbanoo Sadat, Anwar Hashimi, Liam Hussaini, Yasin Negah, Masihullah Tajzai, Torkan Omari
Germany/France/
Norway/Denmark/
Afghanistan
2026
In Dari and Pashto with English subtitles
At Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island
At Fifth Ave
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
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Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Katja Adomeit
Producer
Katja Adomeit, Shahrbanoo Sadat, Jeppe Wowk, Marina Perales Marhuenda, Xavier Rocher, Ingvil Sæther Berger, Balthasar Busmann, Maxi Haslberger
Screenwriter
Shahrbanoo Sadat
Cinematography
Virginie Surdej
Editor
Alexandra Strauss
Production Design
Pegah Ghalambor
Original Music
Harpreet Bansal, Therese Aune, Kristian Eidnes
Shahrbanoo Sadat
Shahrbanoo Sadat (she/her) is an Afghan filmmaker based in Hamburg, Germany, since the fall of Kabul in 2021. She has been selected three times for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, including for her debut feature Wolf and Sheep (2016) — a Camera d’Or nominee and CECAE Award winner. At just 19 years old, Shahrbanoo became the youngest filmmaker ever selected for the prestigious Cannes Cinéfondation Residency, where she developed Wolf and Sheep. No Good Men is the third installment in a planned five-part film series inspired by Anwar Hashimi’s unpublished 800-page autobiographical manuscript.
Filmography: Wolf and Sheep (2016); The Orphanage (2019)
Photo by Alexandra Polina
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