A historic drama with musical Bollywood scenes. Kabul in the early 90s. Soviet values rule the country. Women can wear miniskirts, children can go to school and people can go to the cinema, concerts as well as universities. Life in Afghanistan is similar to life in the Western world. 14 years old Qodrat sells cinema tickets on the black market in the streets of Kabul. After selling a ticket to a secret police officer by mistake, he ends up at the Soviet orphanage, where he fakes his identity at the registration, in hope of getting more power. Everyday life for Qodrat is about friendships, falling in love, doing naughty things and going on adventures – just like it is for children in other parts of the world. However, behind the safe walls of the orphanage the world they once knew is drastically changing as the Mujahideens start the civil war.
The Orphanage is a 2019 Danish-Afghan drama film written and directed by Shahrbanoo Sadat. It was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. It is the second installment in a planned pentalogy based on the unpublished diaries of Anwar Hashimi, who plays a supporting character in the film. Its prequel, Wolf and Sheep, came out in 2016. It has been nominated for best film at several different film festivals, winning at an international festival. They won the Best Film award at the Reykjavik International Film Festival in 2019.
