Shahrbanoo Sadat is an Afghan director and producer with an extra-ordinary background.

Who is Shahrbanoo Sadat?

Born in Iran in 1990 to a family of Afghan refugees, she spent most of her childhood there before moving to Afghanistan in 2001 after the fall of the Taliban regime. Refusing an arranged marriage, she convinced her father to enroll her in a boys' school. At the age of 19, she applied to a Varan workshop held in Kabul in 2009 (Find out more about the Varan workshops in Afghanistan. She trained during the workshop and made her first documentary film, A Smile for Life (available to watch for free on Ateliers Varan's online film library). The return to power of the Taliban on August 15, 2021, forced her to flee her country and seek exile in Germany.

No Good Men opens the 2026 Berlinale

Shahrbanoo Sadat has directed three feature films. Her first two films, Wolf and Sheep (2016) and The Orphanage (2019), were selected for the Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight.

Her latest film, No Good Men (2026, 103'), has been chosen as the opening film for the 76th edition of the prestigious Berlinale festival. It will have its world premiere there on February 12.

The director is also the lead actress in this romantic comedy, the result of a five-country co-production (Afghanistan, Germany, France, Norway, and Denmark). Congratulations to her!

The film's release date in France has not yet been announced.

No Good Men, directed by Shahrbanoo Sadat (Director, Screenplay), starring Shahrbanoo Sadat, Anwar Hashimi, Liam Hussaini, Yasin Negah, Torkan Omari • 103' • Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Afghanistan • 2026 • Color • Dari, Pashto

A smile for life Directed by Shahrbanoo Sadat Afghanistan, 2009