A Czech woman marries into a working-class Afghan family in 21st-century Kabul in Michaela Pavlátová's latest feature film.

Acclaimed director Michaela Pavlátová – an Academy Award nominee, winner of a Golden Bear and a Best Film winner at Annecy – finds a highly original narrative angle to dissect the condition of women in post-Taliban Kabul. Based on a novel by Czech journalist Petra Procházková (who is married to an Afghan man), My Sunny Maad tells the story of Helena (later called Herra), a young Czech woman who falls in love at first sight with Nazir, an Afghan. Two months and three days later, Herra is married into a working-class Afghan family in 21st-century Kabul.

The film eerily captures the place of women in Afghan society, but also questions our own Western xenophobia towards traditions we don't always (want to) understand. Here, a white European woman learns how to adapt to a society she hardly knew, facing misogyny as well as the warmth of an Afghan family. Pavlátová offers a nuanced and humanistic perspective of life. In a vibrant Middle East city, which is stunningly brought to life by lithe 2D animation and an atmospheric sound design, Herra becomes our guide into understanding Afghan social mores and cultural differences Western outsiders in the city encounter. Seven years in the making, My Sunny Maad is an exhilarating portrait that will certainly strike a chord. 

This program screened as part of Kaboom Animation Festival 2022