Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat safely escapes Kabul with her family members

The Cannes-winning Kabul-based filmmaker, Shahrbanoo Sadat, has finally managed to leave Afghanistan. The news was confirmed by her producer Katja Adomeit in a statement. Sadat had earlier opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about her efforts to leave Kabul several days after the Taliban takeover. According to the statement by Katja, Sadat was able to make it through thronging crowds and Taliban checkpoints into the Kabul airport with nine of her family members.

Afghan Filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat flees from Kabul

"With the help of the French government and the help from people all around the world, Shahrbanoo made it after many days together with nine family members through the crowds and Taliban checkpoints into the airport, where French soldiers took care of her and her family," media reports quoted Sadat's producer Katja Adomeit. Adomeit added, "Communication with Shahrbanoo Sadat at the moment is difficult, but she has confirmed she is in Abu Dhabi soon boarding a plane to Europe."

Many of Sadat's friends residing in other countries were concerned about her, who made numerous attempts to leave the capital city after the Taliban takeover. The award-winning Afghan filmmaker, who had returned three years later with her highly praised follow up, The Orphanage, had faced continuous difficulties in reaching Hamid Karzai International Airport of Kabul. 

Earlier, several scenes of panic-stricken Afghan nationals trying to board planes took over the internet. While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the Wolf and Sheep fame director had described the problem of getting the paperwork with the right permissions, flight information and confirmation that all the Afghan nationals she was travelling had seats in order to get through the Taliban checkpoints that had blocked her route. 

Shahrbanoo Sadat's award-winning work

Shahrbanoo Sadat's first feature film, Wolf and Sheep was developed with the Cannes Cinefondation Residence in the year 2010. The filmmaker was only 20 years old, which made her the youngest-ever selected for the program. The film, which was the first instalment of a pentalogy based on the unpublished personal diary of actor, Anwar Hashimi, had bagged the main award at Cannes Director's Fortnight section in 2016. The Orphanage was a follow up of the series that was based on the same diary. The film had screened at the Directors' Fortnight in 2019. The third part of the franchise is titled Kabul Jan and is currently in development. 

(IMAGE CREDITS: MULHER NO CINEMA'S INSTAGRAM)