Overview
- No Good Men opened the 76th Berlin International Film Festival on Feb. 12, screening in the Berlinale Special section outside competition.
- Early reactions are split, with La Voz del Interior praising its candor and character focus while El Periódico criticizes its execution and questions it as an opening choice.
- Writer-director Shahrbanoo Sadat left Afghanistan after the 2021 Taliban takeover and now lives in Hamburg; this is her third feature.
- Set in Kabul but filmed entirely in Germany, the film blends romance and political observation around an economically independent TV camerawoman and features on-screen intimacy uncommon in Afghan cinema.
- The selection renews scrutiny of Berlinale’s programming and stature, as festival director Tricia Tuttle describes a multi-voice process aimed at politically engaged choices that surprise audiences.