Film Is Based on the Inspiring, True Story of Afghanistan's First All-Female Robotics Team

Angel Studios Sets March 7 2025 Theatrical Release Date for RULE BREAKERS in 2000 theaters across the US

Reviews:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/movies/rule-breakers-review.html

https://variety.com/2025/film/reviews/rule-breakers-review-1236330849/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/rule-breakers-review-afghan-dreamers-angel-studios-1236154735/

https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2025/0305/rule-breakers-afghan-girls-robotics-team-taliban

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/how-rule-breakers-spotlights-afghan-all-girl-robotics-team-on-the-big-screen/

The movie Rule Breakers opens today in more than 2000 theaters across the US, so I thought I would share some thoughts and photos from behind the scenes. I was a cowriter and an executive producer on the movie. My sister, Elizabeth Schaeffer Brown, was also an EP. We went to Afghanistan in 2015 to write about the work Roya Mahboob was doing funneling money to girls computer education through her business. Elizabeth had met Roya while working for UN Women and thought we needed to tell her story: https://www.salon.com/.../if_i_teach_them_no_one_can.../.

In Kabul and Herat we visited the girls' classrooms, and in Herat we stayed with Roya's wonderful family. Pics below. Years later Roya started the Afghan Girls Robotics team, who travelled around the world competing in competitions. Director Bill Guttentag and I wrote the script with Elaha Mahboob, Roya's sister. In the middle of working on the script, the Taliban took the country back and destoryed girls education. We kept working. Both Elaha, Roya, and their brother Ali worked on the film. It's their story, and the story of the girls who were on the team. The Mahboobs set the tone for the kind of movie they wanted--a movie that showed the courage and fortitude of Afghan women and people. A movie that parents would take their kids to see all over the world. An international film about what we can do when we come together and seek common ground.

The film was distributed by Angel Studios, who started in the business making Christian films. They have moved into a wider range of content and were the only company who offered to distribute the film widely in theaters. They had the courage to distribute a movie that was outside the zone of their normal audience.

To my friends on the left, here we see the power of education to give people hope for the future. To my friends on the right, here we have a film about love and courage and family. Isn't this what we all want for our daughters and our sons--the opportunity to fulfill their dreams?

Everyone who worked on this films--the actors, the director, the producers--felt it was an important film to make and give it their all.

I also played the Fedex man in the movie. This is the point where most people start crying. Pics in my picture section.