Sunday Film Festival
Sunday, September 5
INNOWHERELAND
Hiçbiryerde (Turkish)
Nirgendwo (Kurmanji)
After losing her Kurdish husband following political persecution, the widow, Sukran is very careful about how she brings up her only son Veysel. She is always anxious to keep him away from any political activities. Then, one day, he disappears. Refusing to believe her missing son is dead, Sukran journeys to southeast Turkey-- "Innowhereland". Arriving in the ancient town of Mardin, she meets with hostility and bureaucratic indifference, until some people claim to know where the boy is hiding. Directed by Tayfun Pireslimoglu, and starring Zuhal Olcay, Michael Mendl and Parkan Otzuran.
Montreal World Film Festival, Special Jury Grand Prix Award 2002
International Istanbul Film Festival, Best Actress Award 2002
Radikal Newspaper, Audience Award 2002
International Mediterranean Film Festival, Jeune Public Award 2002
Turkish with English subtitles (Turkey, 2001). Text courtesy of London
Kurdish Film Festival.
JIYAN (Life)
Five years after the infamous chemical and biological bombing of Halabja
in Iraqi Kurdistan by the Iraqi military, Diyari returns to his homeland
to build an orphanage in what is left of the town. He meets Jiyan, a
ten-year old orphan and a survivor of the chemical attack, doomed to live
with a burn scar covering most of her right cheek. A strong bond between
the two ensues and later he names his orphanage after her. During the
course of his stay in Halabja, Diyari meets a colorful bunch of townsfolk,
many of whom remain physically and/or psychologically marked with the
effects of the chemical agents. Among them is Jiyan's only living
relative, Shêrko. In addition to building the orphanage, Diyari
brings a spark of hope and happiness to Shêrko's and Jiyan's lives.
Directed by Kurdish-American Director Jano Rosebiani.
Winner, Special Jury Award, New Director's Showcase
Seattle International Film Festival 2002
Winner, Best Film, "Man and His Environment" Award
International Film Festival Festroia 2002
Setubal, Portugal
Official Selection, Tiger Competition
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2002
Honorable Mention, Best Feature
In The Spirit of Freedom Award, In Memory of Wim Van Leer
19th Jerusalem Film Festival 2002
Winner, Popular Jury Award
Rights to Have Rights Film Festival 2003
Modena, Italy
Kurdish (Sorani dialect) with English subtitles (Iraqi Kurdistan, 2001). Text courtesy of Evini Films.
DOCUMENTARY: SADDAM'S MASS GRAVES
The Anfal Campaign masterminded by Saddam Hussein and carried out by "Chemical
Ali," was a genocidal action that sought to annihilate Kurdish villages and Iraqi
Marsh-Arab communities beginning in 1988. Over 270 mass grave sites have been
discovered so far, containing 300,000 bodies. 1.2 million Kurdish and Shi'a
Muslim men, women and children have been executed by Saddam's regime since 1975.
This documentary presents interviews with family members, human rights workers,
and politicians showing the discoveries of the mass grave sites into which most
of the Kurdish and Shi'a Muslims had been thrown after their deaths. This
film is Kurdish-American Director Jano Rosebiani's most recent film.
Kurmanji, Sorani, Arabic, and English (Iraqi Kurdistan, 2003)
A SONG FOR BEKO
Klamek Ji bo Beko (Kurmanji)
Nizamettin Aric made his directorial debut and also stars in "A Song for
Beko", one of the first films in Kurdish. He also scripted and starred in this
eloquent film, as well as composed and played its musical score. Aric was himself
imprisoned for
speaking the Kurdish language in public and exiled from Turkey. Beko begins his
long pilgrimage -- in search of his brother -- in Kurdish areas of Turkey, where
he escapes arrest. Fleeing into Syria, this modern-day Odysseus then makes his way
into the serenely beautiful highlands of the Kurdish areas of Iraq. Here, in a
nomadic community caring for refugee children, Beko finds himself and a homeland.
But inevitably this peace is broken. "To be a refugee is a Kurdish fate," says
Aric. "The more the people of the world know about us, the more we can hope. That
is why I made this film."
Winner, Special Jury Award
Fribourg International Film Festival (Switzerland) 1994
Kurdish (Kurmanji dialect) with English subtitles (Germany/Armenia, 1992).
Text Courtesy of HRW Film Festival.
TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES
Bahman Ghobadi's tragic yet unsentimental first feature is influenced by his own childhood in Iran's
Kurdistan. In a remote Kurdish village on the Iran-Iraq border, five motherless children endure hardscrabble
lives, heavily burdened by responsibility and loss as a smuggler's mule. Ayoub (Ayoub Ahmadi) and his young
sister, Ameneh (Ameneh Ekhtiar-Dini) work at a bazaar to earn money while simultaneously caring for their
tiny, ill brother, Madi (Mehdi Ekhtiar-Dini), who suffers from a form of dwarfism. When a landmine kills their
smuggler father, Ayoub must provide for the family, despite his young age. He joins the smugglers, carrying
heavy loads on his back through the snowy mountains toward Iraq, while dodging the constant threat of ambush
and mines. Pressure on Ayoub increases as poor Madi's illness worsens. An operation in Iraq is Madi's only
hope, yet Ayoub's earnings barely cover the family's necessities. A possible solution arises when the
children's eldest sister, Rojin (Rojin Younessi) enters an arranged marriage with an Iraqi, who promises to
pay for the operation. With its sparse dialogue, rough settings, and intimate view of Kurdish life, Ghobadi's
first feature film is a simply told and very powerful tale.
Farsi and Kurdish (Sorani dialect) with English subtitles (Iran, 2000). Text Courtesy of Troygift.com.
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