Opening the 76th Berlinale with her third feature film No Good Men is a big step for Shahrbanoo Sadat who experienced herself the harrowing crisis awaiting her protagonist. Outspoken cinematographer Naru, played by Sadat herself, is a character closely modelled after herself. Ahead of her film's premiere screening at the Berlinale opening gala, the Iranian director spoke with Lidanoir about the tense time when the Taliban took Kabul in August 2021, living in a fundamentalist patriarchal society, and moments of love and joy in violent times.