ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Zagros Film Festival is seeking to introduce Kurdish culture and heritage to a global audience throughout the month of March with online screening of influential feature and short films highlighting the identity and history of the Kurdish people.
A total of 15 films are featured at the festival, tackling stories from different parts of Kurdistan and filmed in a variety of dialects of the Kurdish language.
“Our festival aims to offer a rich cultural and artistic experience not only for Kurds but for audiences worldwide, by bringing together diverse stories and perspectives,” reads a message from the festival’s coordinator Simon Suleymani on the event’s website.
Two of the films showcased at the festival date back to nearly a century ago. Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life is a 1925 American documentary from directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. It follows the lives of a group from the Bakhtiari tribe in Iran as they make their seasonal journey towards better pastures.
Zare, a 1926 silent film from Armenian filmmaker Hamo Beknazarian, tells the story of young shepherd Seydo and his girlfriend Zare as they try to navigate their way towards a happy life in a Yazidi village in Soviet Armenia. It is widely believed to be the first film about the lives of the Yazidi people.
“One of our goals is to show the Kurdish films in English subtitles to the world… Cultural activities are always under attack by the invaders, but no one can touch the products if they’re preserved on the internet,” Suleymani told Rudaw on Sunday.
