Sahraa Karimi’s Taliban drama “Flight From Kabul” wins award for best pitch

“Flight from Kabul” has won the Screen International best pitch award from Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, the industry platform of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (POFF). The project is inspired by Karimi’s own experience of the 2021 Taliban offensive that retook control Afghanistan, and forced the filmmaker to flee her homeland. The Italian-Slovak co-production tells the story of Zibaa, a successful Afghan filmmaker and anti-Taliban activist who has got engaged; only for her wedding plans to be destroyed when the Taliban seizes Kabul. The film is produced by Wanda Adamik Hrycova for Slovakia’s Wandal Production, in co-production with Fandango.

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Sahraa Karimi is a University in Exile for Afghan Artist Fellow hosted by the School of Media Studies at The New School. She is an acclaimed filmmaker who has enjoyed international success in her career as a groundbreaking screenwriter, director, and professor. She is the first woman ever to head Afghan Films as its Director-General. Karimi’s filmography includes works such as Afghan Women behind the Wheel (2009), and Hava, Maryam, Ayesha (2019).