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Award-Winning Afghan Movie Director Forced To Film Abroad

Shahrbano Sadat, the young Afghan female film maker and director of Wolf and Sheep, which won a Cannes Film Festival prize earlier this year, has said that insecurity in the country was the reason she filmed the movie outside of the country.

She says that with every film she works on there are dozens of job opportunities for Afghans but because of insecurity she cannot afford to make movies in the country – and is therefore forced to hire foreigners.

Sadat is the first Afghan film director to have won a Cannes Film Festival award.

She said that her award-winning Wolf and Sheep was shot in both Tajikistan and in Poland.

Sadat said Wolf and Sheep was about poverty and hardships in a rural village but that it portrayed the real culture of the country.

"We chose the actors and actresses from Kabul and then took them to (Tajikistan and) Poland - where we erected a building in which the actors portrayed Kabul city between 1986 and 1990," said Sadat.

Sadat was trained in documentary film making by French experts for three months and then, according to her, a German doctor who was supposed to play the lead role in her first documentary was killed by Taliban while on his way to Badakhshan just two weeks before they started filming.

This tragedy resulted in her changing direction and she started filming fiction opposed to true-life documentaries.

Sadat said: "The movie (industry) offers good job opportunities. For every film there are about 300 jobs available. But due to security threats, we shoot the films out of the country and non-Afghan individuals get the jobs."

Sadat has made four films so far and her films have been screened at a number of festivals. However, her latest movie scooped a coveted Cannes award.

Award-Winning Afghan Movie Director Forced To Film Abroad

Shahrbano Sadat, the young Afghan female film maker and director of Wolf and Sheep, which won a Ca

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Shahrbano Sadat, the young Afghan female film maker and director of Wolf and Sheep, which won a Cannes Film Festival prize earlier this year, has said that insecurity in the country was the reason she filmed the movie outside of the country.

She says that with every film she works on there are dozens of job opportunities for Afghans but because of insecurity she cannot afford to make movies in the country – and is therefore forced to hire foreigners.

Sadat is the first Afghan film director to have won a Cannes Film Festival award.

She said that her award-winning Wolf and Sheep was shot in both Tajikistan and in Poland.

Sadat said Wolf and Sheep was about poverty and hardships in a rural village but that it portrayed the real culture of the country.

"We chose the actors and actresses from Kabul and then took them to (Tajikistan and) Poland - where we erected a building in which the actors portrayed Kabul city between 1986 and 1990," said Sadat.

Sadat was trained in documentary film making by French experts for three months and then, according to her, a German doctor who was supposed to play the lead role in her first documentary was killed by Taliban while on his way to Badakhshan just two weeks before they started filming.

This tragedy resulted in her changing direction and she started filming fiction opposed to true-life documentaries.

Sadat said: "The movie (industry) offers good job opportunities. For every film there are about 300 jobs available. But due to security threats, we shoot the films out of the country and non-Afghan individuals get the jobs."

Sadat has made four films so far and her films have been screened at a number of festivals. However, her latest movie scooped a coveted Cannes award.

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