'A love letter to the good men I know': Shahrbanoo Sadat redefines Afghan cinema with first romcom

Sadat wrote, directed and is starring in the film, says she wanted to push back the usual portrayal of Afghan society

For filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat, making Afghanistan’s first romantic comedy was not just a creative choice, it was a statement.

Her new film, No Good Men, which opens the Berlin Film Festival, is, as she describes it, “a love letter to all the good men I know.” At a time when Afghan stories on the global stage are often dominated by war, extremism and oppression, Sadat set out to tell a different kind of story one rooted in affection, humor and emotional complexity.

Set in Kabul in the months before the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, No Good Men follows Naru, a fiercely independent television camerawoman who insists that decent men simply don’t exist in her world. Confident, outspoken and wary of romance, Naru’s convictions are challenged when she meets Qodrat, a journalist whose quiet integrity unsettles her assumptions.

Sadat, who wrote, directed and stars in the film, has said she wanted to push back against the narrow portrayals of Afghan society that often reduce it to suffering alone. While the looming political collapse hangs over the story, the film leans into flirtation, newsroom banter and the awkward rhythms of falling in love. It embraces the romantic comedy genre, something rarely, if ever, associated with Afghan cinema.

By framing the film as a “love letter,” Sadat is also reclaiming space for nuance. The title No Good Men plays ironically against the film’s emotional core: that kindness and decency do exist, even within deeply patriarchal structures. Rather than depicting Afghan men as monolithic or villainous, she highlights the individuals who have supported, respected and stood beside women like her.

Sadat herself was evacuated from Afghanistan after Kabul fell, and that rupture informs the film’s poignancy. Though the narrative unfolds with humor and warmth, there is an undercurrent of fragility, a sense of capturing a world on the brink of disappearing.