Filming on the German-French-Turkish co-production The Postman by Afghan filmmaker Siddiq Barmak wrapped in June this year. Although the story takes place in Afghanistan, most of the film was shot in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Duhok and Erbil served as stand-in locations for Kabul, while the final scenes were filmed in Berlin (on a construction-waste landfill site in the north of the city). It is now in post-production, with the release planned for 2027. Barmak has been active as a filmmaker since the 1980s, always covering topics related to his home country, and he won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign-language Film in 2004 for Osama.

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Set in Kabul in 1992, during the collapse of the Soviet-backed regime and the advance of the Mujahideen, The Postman tells the story of Amir, a postman whose teenage son is killed in a rocket attack. His wife, Nazira, subsequently retreats into silence, and the family begins to fall apart. For Amir, delivering the mail becomes the last remaining fragment of normality. As the political situation deteriorates, even his daily rounds become increasingly dangerous. Through the postman's encounters with the people whose homes he visits, the film portrays a society confronted with death, loss and uncertainty, but also with moments of consolation.

“The movie explores the resilience of the human spirit, mirrored in the lives of the residents whose flats the postman visits to deliver both heartbreaking and joyful news,” goes one official description of the project. German production companies Epik Filmproduktion and mîtosfilm, led by producers Hüseyin Tabak and Mehmet Aktaş, are staging the film together with French outfit l'atelier documentaire. The screenplay has been co-written by Asad Hussain and Barmak. The DoP is Afghan-German cinematographer Zamarin Wahdat (Ghost School).

The international cast is led by Hussein Hassan Ali, an Iraqi-Kurdish actor and director known for films including Memories on Stone, The Milan Protocol and House Without Roof. The supporting cast includes Iranian-French actress Mina Kavani (Think Good, Reading Lolita in Tehran) as well as Bahar Naghibi and Diman Zandi.

The Postman is a German-French-Turkish co-production involving the aforementioned companies, in collaboration with MRK Films. It is backed by broadcasters ZDF and ARTE. Public funding was provided by the Filmförderanstalt (FFA), the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the DFFF. Also joining on the French side is the CNC, via its Aide aux cinémas du monde fund. International sales are handled by Le Pacte in Paris, while AF-Media is responsible for the German theatrical release. The film is slated to come out next year, but its festival premiere and precise theatrical release date remain unconfirmed.

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