Roya Sadat

Roya Sadat (Dari: رؤیا سادات; ; born 1983 ) is an Afghan film producer and director. She was the first woman director in the history of Afghan cinema in the post-Taliban era, and ventured into making feature films and documentaries on the theme of injustice and restrictions imposed on women. Following the fall of the Taliban regime in the country, she made her debut feature film Three Dots. For this film she received six awards which included as best director and best film. Her film A Letter to the President received international awards. She and her sister, Alka Sadat, established the Roya Film House and under this banner produced more than 30 documentaries, feature films and TV series . She directed the opera of A Thousand Splendid Suns for the Seattle Opera and is in pre-production for her second feature film Forgotten History.

Early life and education Sadat was born in Herat, Afghanistan in 1983, during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. When she was very young, at the time the Taliban ruled in Afghanistan, women's education was a taboo. She and her seven sisters were educated at home by her mother.

She studied law and political science at the Herat University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2005. In 2006, she studied at the Asian Academy, Pusan for a Certificate Course in Film Direction. In her film productions she generally works as scriptwriter, director, and in many other roles including music. In 2021, she received the Kim Dae Jung Nobel Peace Film Award for her "effort to promote democracy, human rights, and peace through the art of motion pictures".

Personal life She married in 2011. Her husband was a member of Kabul University's cinema faculty and joined Roya Film House as a writer and cinematographer.

Sadat was visited the United States in 2021 when the Taliban resumed power in Afghanistan. She has since remained in the U.S. with her husband and their two children. Sima's Song (2024)