The courageous story of Afghanistan’s first all-girls robotics team is coming to a theater near you.
Rule Breakers is based on the true story of The Afghan Girls Robotics Team, who grabbed the world’s attention when they were denied member visas by the United States in 2017 while attempting to compete at the First Global Challenge international robotics competition. Fifty three members of Congress signed a petition and President Donald Trump intervened to give the girls travel documents on special humanitarian grounds allowing them to enter the US and compete in the robotics games, according to a New York Times profile.
The story of the team’s struggle to compete in the robotics competition goes much deeper than their attempts to enter the US. First Global founder Dean Kamen, who is best known for designing the Segway, put together his competitive robotics league as a way to spark interest in science and technology among high schoolers. He invited and enlisted Afghan tech entrepreneur and Digital Citizen Fund (DCF) founder Roya Mahboob to put together an all-girls robotics team for the competition nicknamed the Afghan Dreamers. A dozen girls made the cut forming the first team and worked on their robotic creation in Mahboob’s parents’ basement using whatever they could find for tools along with parts donated by Kamen, according to the Times.
The movie tells the story of the team’s deep and perilous struggle to compete and pursue their passions. The Taliban’s return to power in 2021 reversed years of gender equality and strife for freedom by forbidding women from receiving an education in science and technology, forcing some of the team members to flee their country for their own safety and the right to pursue their future on their terms. Team member Sadaf Hamidi, who fled for Qatar in 2021, told NBC News last year that one of her sisters had to give up her dream of going to medical school saying “This is heartbreaking for me and for them.”
Rule Breakers is directed by two-time Academy Award winner Bill Guttentag and stars Nikohl Boosheri as Mahboob and Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The film hits theaters on March 7, 2025.
