Private Project

True Warriors

True Warriors tells the story of brave group of artists from Kabul whose premiere of a play on suicide attacks was attacked by a suicide bomber. The film depicts how they came back stronger from that attack, and how they're fighting to change Afghanistan from the inside.

Kabul, December 11, 2014. During the premiere of a theatre play about suicide bombings a 17 years old boy blows himself up. Some in the audience clap, because at first they think the explosion is part of a very realistic re-enactment. Only when panic spreads do they realize what happened.
The documentary film TRUE WARRIORS tells the story of the actors and the musicians who were on stage that day. With their play, they wanted to make a point against the terror and violence that eats up their country. Now they are paralyzed by fear. Ever getting on a stage again? Unimaginable! Becoming a famous musician? Way too dangerous!
Only when violence hits a second time, some of the artists decide to step it up – they become ever more radical as artists. Not only do they go back on stage – they also play the most daring piece imaginable, on the streets of Kabul, unprotected.
TRUE WARRIORS reminds us that if we really want to defeat terrorism we need to offer more than fear and hatred. One of the actors said after a screening in Germany: "We need to move from a culture of war to a culture of peace – and who could lead the way but us artists?"

  • Ronja von Wurmb-Seibel
    Director
  • Niklas Schenck
    Director
  • Lukas Augustin
    Director
  • Ronja von Wurmb-Seibel
    Writer
  • Niklas Schenck
    Writer
  • Julia Drache
    Writer
    Watu Wote (Academy Award nominated short film)
  • Niklas Schenck
    Producer
  • Ronja von Wurmb-Seibel
    Producer
  • Julia Drache
    Editing
    Academy award nominated for Watu Wote (Short film)
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    December 6, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    300 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Afghanistan, Germany
  • Language:
    English, Persian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:1,85
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Cinema Premiere Hamburg, Germany
    Hamburg, Abaton
    Germany
    December 6, 2017
    German premiere
    First of 150+ cinema screenings in Germany
  • Festival de cine y derechos humanos Barcelona
    Barcelona
    Spain
    November 20, 2018
    Spain
  • York Human Rights Film Festival (UK)
    York
    United Kingdom
    November 16, 2018
    UK Premiere
  • Transnational Law Summit King's College
    London
    United Kingdom
    April 10, 2018
    UK Preview
  • International Afghan Film festival Stockholm
    Stockholm
    Sweden
    August 10, 2018
    Sweden
    Best Long Documentary
  • Afghan International Film Festival Ladenburg
    Ladenburg
    Germany
    July 22, 2018
    2nd prize Long Documentary
  • Algiers International Film Festival
    Algiers
    Algeria
    December 4, 2018
    African Premiere
    Special mention, ran in competition
Distribution Information
  • Filmstransit, Jan Rofekamp
Director Biography - Ronja von Wurmb-Seibel, Niklas Schenck, Lukas Augustin

True Warriors was directed and produced by Ronja von Wurmb-Seibel and Niklas Schenck. Both grew up in Germany and freelance for major journalistic publications. Together, they had lived in Kabul in 2013 and 2014 and produced two half-hour films for German public broadcaster NDR - a narrative story about a live-in-community of peace activists (7 Tage … Kabul) and an investigative report on deadly unexploded ordinance that NATO forces left behind on their former training ranges (Das tödliche Erbe der NATO). Ronja published the book "Ausgerechnet Kabul - 13 stories of life in a war". Niklas was nominated for the prestigious Grimme Award for his first film "Geheimer Krieg (Secret Wars)" (NDR/ARD 2014, about German secret involvement in US war on terror, NDR/ARD 2013), and for an Emmy for the multimedia feature „Love for my enemies“ (2015).
www.vonwurmbseibel.com / www.killdarlings.de/schenck

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Backstory and production
We had at that time lived in Kabul for a year and a half, working on shorter film projects (2x30') and researching for a book of nonfiction stories. We got to know the founder of the theatre group a few weeks before the play and he invited us to the premiere, excited about the daring and special nature of the piece. But we'd long scheduled our move back to Germany for the day prior, so we couldn't attend – instead, we woke up to the news of the attack. We'd often been to IFA and knew our friends would have been in the audience. As we were calling around to check on everyone, stories started pouring in. We'd lived in Kabul and experienced many explosions there, luckily without ever being this closed – hearing our friends stories we realized: We still have NO IDEA what it's like when you're actually inside the attack. So we decided to make this film: The telling of this story in its purest form.

We went back to Kabul with no budget as soon as the first few actors and musicians signalled they were ready to talk in depth about their experience that day. Getting to Kabul in early 2015 we found some deeply traumatized, others starting to move on – and every single interview blew our minds: Here were role models for dealing with adversity. Here were people who we wanted to BECOME ourselves. Here were strong and focused people with a real stake in their country, willing to risk it all.

We did most of the interviews in an underground club – it was the only place soundproofed well enough to shut out helicopters and ice cream vendors: No wonder, since the club owners' lives depended on the neighbours not realizing what they're up to in there, the kind of concerts they organize. Most internationals didn't get permission to be interviewed or filmed there, though, as the place doesn't have blast walls or armed guards – so we interviewed them in the German embassy instead.