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I inquire Shahrbanoo Sadat however Hindi movie songs of yore recovered their mode into her past movie, the puerility drama The Orphanage (2019). She admits to having watched 400 Bollywood films from the 1960s-90s for it. She counts the movies of Raj Kapoor and Nargis, and this 1 fig (‘Jaane Kaise Kab Kahan’) that Amitabh Bachchan sings successful the forest, among her favourites. The 35-year-old Afghan filmmaker and actor, who was calved successful Tehran, Iran, present lives successful exile successful Germany.
Sadat’s latest, No Good Men, the 3rd successful her pentalogy of films based connected her co-actor Anwar Hashimi’s unpublished autobiography, is Afghanistan’s archetypal ever rom-com. It opened the 76th Berlin International Film Festival connected February 12. This is her archetypal outing astatine the festival.
Shahrbanoo Sadat | Photo Credit: Getty Images
In 2019, earlier the instrumentality of the Taliban, she had started flirting with the thought of this film, inspired by her mundane beingness arsenic a young pistillate successful Kabul. It was a “departure” for the award-winning Wolf and Sheep (2016) director, who until past had steered wide of the subject, due to the fact that for 2 decades of democracy, “women’s rights” had evolved into a cardinal slogan utilized to pull planetary funding. But, that year, she realised that she could nary longer tally distant from the world that women’s stories were her stories. In 2021, aft Kabul collapsed, Sadat was evacuated. Her tendency to marque a rom-com became much urgent, to antagonistic the bleak warfare dramas that person travel to specify Afghanistan.
No Good Men is acceptable successful 2021 Afghanistan, close earlier the Taliban’s return. Sadat plays the protagonist Naru, the lone camerawoman astatine Kabul’s main TV station, who’s struggling to support custody of her three-year-old lad aft leaving her serial-cheater husband. Convinced that no bully men exist successful her country, Naru is caught disconnected defender erstwhile Qodrat, Kabul TV’s astir important journalist, gives her a vocation opportunity. As the 2 crisscross the metropolis reporting connected its past days of freedom, sparks fly, and Naru starts to uncertainty herself: could determination really beryllium a antheral of integrity retired there? Excerpts from a roundtable interview:
Most films astir women’s problems are acheronian and grim. But you amusement varied emotions successful No Good Men.
or me, it happened precise organically. It was ne'er an docket that, oh, I privation to marque a lighter movie astir [Afghan] women. I deliberation my inspiration was my mundane beingness successful Kabul, which was not sad, not depressing. Yes, I lived successful a nine that is profoundly patriarchal, and determination is simply a strategy that is broken, and has a batch of restrictions connected women. But I would find my ain way.
Like me, adjacent for Naru, who lives successful a bubble, determination is simply a ceiling connected her state whenever she encounters authorities, the strategy oregon the laws. But it doesn’t mean that women are accepting it. I’ve conscionable made a abbreviated movie astir women going to a gym, called Super Afghan Gym. We premiered it successful Rotterdam [International Film Festival Rotterdam] earlier coming to Berlin.
A batch of women successful Afghanistan wrote to maine connected societal media saying that ‘since the Taliban are back, we cannot spell to school, we cannot spell to work, but we secretly spell to the gym and we marque muscles, and this is the item of our day, due to the fact that that’s the lone happening we tin do’. It breaks my heart. But I emotion these women. They are my heroes.
I person faced absorption from imaginable funders who really question the appropriateness of making an Afghan romanticist drama similar this. They consciousness it’s inappropriate to enactment this rom-com portion brave Afghan women are warring successful the streets of Kabul.
It is arsenic if a romanticist drama is reserved for achromatic people. And, secondly, they archer the Afghan creator what benignant of creation you tin create. Making a romanticist drama was a conflict wrong and outside.
Team | Photo Credit: Courtsey: Berlinale
Is the rubric an exploration of the anticipation of bully men successful existent life?
Until my aboriginal 20s, I truly believed that there’s nary bully antheral successful Afghanistan. That was thing I experienced, it was coming from my reality, oregon that of each pistillate I knew, met oregon encountered. On a autobus once, a pistillate sitting adjacent to maine asked: are you married? I said ‘no’. And she said, ‘good. There’s nary bully antheral successful Afghanistan’. So, I realised that this is simply a corporate acquisition of women. When I got my archetypal occupation successful 1 of the apical TV channels successful Kabul, arsenic a producer, not arsenic a camerawoman similar Naru, I met Anwar [Hashimi, actor]. Anwar was a writer covering concern news. He told maine astir his emotion story, and I recovered it precise fascinating. When I met him, I was precise confused, due to the fact that I thought determination is immoderate conspiracy going on. It cannot beryllium true, a antheral who treats maine equally, who respects my idea, who asks for my opinion. I thought that helium has a crippled and I should beryllium precise careful. But Anwar changed my mindset. I met a batch of different bully men erstwhile I was casting for my debut film, ‘Wolf and Sheep’.
What is location to you?
In Iran, I was ever told that I’m Afghan and I should spell backmost to Afghanistan. But I was calved successful Iran, it was home, I didn’t cognize wherefore I should spell backmost to Afghanistan, a spot I didn’t know. In Iran, I was called Afghani, which is simply a precise humiliating word. And erstwhile we went backmost to Afghanistan with my parents, they called maine Iranian. So, they told maine spell backmost to Iran. And for a precise agelong time, I had this individuality situation due to the fact that I didn’t cognize wherever I belonged. When I came to Germany, suddenly, I had a caller identity. I was a foreigner, a refugee. And past I realised that Afghani, Iranian, refugee, foreigner — they are each identities imposed connected maine by the extracurricular world. I’ve been the aforesaid idiosyncratic successful each these places. I realised that Iran, Afghanistan, and Germany are my home. I’m a quality being with lived experiences successful antithetic countries. At this constituent successful my life, I’m beyond nationality. It doesn’t mean thing to me.
Anwar Hashimi and Shahrbanoo Sadat successful a inactive from No Good Men. | Photo Credit: Virginie Surdej
Berlinale assemblage president Wim Wenders precocious spoke against mixing politics with films. What are your thoughts?
I besides heard that. But, I tin lone archer you my perspective. There is an anticipation from the satellite for maine to beryllium a governmental filmmaker conscionable due to the fact that I’m from Afghanistan. But I bash not privation this identity. I conscionable privation to beryllium a filmmaker. And a filmmaker tin marque governmental films, but besides rom-coms that person thing to bash with politics. I privation to beryllium a escaped filmmaker who tin determine the content. When I’m starting a project, I don’t cognize what my movie is about. It took maine 3 years and 12 drafts of the publication earlier I understood that my movie is astir patriarchy.
A batch of radical besides inquire me, are you a feminist filmmaker? That is yet different label. Yes, I’m proudly a feminist. I deliberation everyone should be. But I don’t similar to beryllium defined by labels. I’m a filmmaker due to the fact that of each the beingness experiences of racist and sexist patriarchy I person had to face. For me, filmmaking is similar therapy. While playing Naru, I virtually met myself. I ever thought I’m broken, I’m not enough, I’m not good, and if I spell successful beforehand of the camera, the full satellite is going to spot that I’m horrible. I was precise insecure, but conscionable playing Naru helped maine spot myself. Cinema gives maine freedom.
Will Afghan audiences get to spot the film?
Everyone has a smartphone and Internet. They are going to bargain the film, enactment it connected YouTube, oregon chop it and enactment it connected TikTok oregon Telegram, but they volition ticker it. I’m keeping my expectations truly low, I don’t deliberation they are going to person it excessively well, because, archetypal of all, I’m a woman. How situation I talk? And past I’m saying, ‘no bully man’, that possibly I’m a lesbian. That I deliberation men are horrible. These are the benignant of comments I’m expecting. But a batch of women volition relate.
The writer is attending the movie festival astatine the invitation of Berlinale; her travel has been facilitated by Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai.
