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Culture
The Kurdish documentary ‘Harmony For After War’ won best short documentary at the the Sole Luna Doc Film Festival. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdish documentary 'Harmony For After War' won best short documentary at an Italian film festival this week.
The documentary sheds light on the lives of two brothers, Mustafa and Ahmed, who were born blind. Unable to attend school or play in the streets of their native Kobane, in northeastern Syria (Rojava), making music together at home became a soul nurturing outlet. But in 2014, when Islamic State (ISIS) militants seized their city, the brothers were forced to leave their instruments behind. Returning in the summer of 2015 after the city's liberation, they were devastated to find the jihadists had destroyed their instruments, including Mustafa's prized violin.
The film was directed by Argentianian Pablo Tosco and Migue Rorth.
It was "chosen as best short documentary of the "New Italians" Jury, based on its emotional messages and story that touched all of us," reads a statement from the Sole Luna Doc Film Festival, which was held from July 6 to 12 in the southern Italian city of Palermo.
"The film gave us a message of hope when seeing that despite the land that is destroyed, a war that has destroyed people's life, and those two brothers that live in very difficult conditions, the protagonists continued their love for music which has guided them and gave them the strength to go on," the festival added. "Furthermore, it is not only a film which shows hope, strength and passion, but it is also an inspirational message that encourages [us] to help others when you have the possibility to do so.”
"I left my instruments here. I left my violin, the guitar, my lute. I also left my tambur. There was no way to take them with me," Mustafa says in the film.
"When I returned, Daesh (ISIS) had destroyed all my instruments ... Without music, everything is more painful," Mustafa says. "Music is a nutrient for my soul."
The strict Islamic doctrines of ISIS forbade music and other art forms. Music schools and institutes across the region were smashed under ISIS dictat.
Gani Mirzo, a Syrian Kurd and lute player who lives in Spain, composed the music for the film.
"I did not just create the music for the film, but also the idea behind the documentary was mine. It was a project to tell all how we could reconstruct our Rojava through music instruments," Mirozo told Rudaw TV from Spanish city of Barcelona on Wednesday night. "It was great for the whole of Europe that we, as Kurdish people, are all the time for peace and are interested in music.”
Rudaw Media Network was media sponsor of the documentary.
The documentary sheds light on the lives of two brothers, Mustafa and Ahmed, who were born blind. Unable to attend school or play in the streets of their native Kobane, in northeastern Syria (Rojava), making music together at home became a soul nurturing outlet. But in 2014, when Islamic State (ISIS) militants seized their city, the brothers were forced to leave their instruments behind. Returning in the summer of 2015 after the city's liberation, they were devastated to find the jihadists had destroyed their instruments, including Mustafa's prized violin.
The film was directed by Argentianian Pablo Tosco and Migue Rorth.
It was "chosen as best short documentary of the "New Italians" Jury, based on its emotional messages and story that touched all of us," reads a statement from the Sole Luna Doc Film Festival, which was held from July 6 to 12 in the southern Italian city of Palermo.
"The film gave us a message of hope when seeing that despite the land that is destroyed, a war that has destroyed people's life, and those two brothers that live in very difficult conditions, the protagonists continued their love for music which has guided them and gave them the strength to go on," the festival added. "Furthermore, it is not only a film which shows hope, strength and passion, but it is also an inspirational message that encourages [us] to help others when you have the possibility to do so.”
"I left my instruments here. I left my violin, the guitar, my lute. I also left my tambur. There was no way to take them with me," Mustafa says in the film.
"When I returned, Daesh (ISIS) had destroyed all my instruments ... Without music, everything is more painful," Mustafa says. "Music is a nutrient for my soul."
The strict Islamic doctrines of ISIS forbade music and other art forms. Music schools and institutes across the region were smashed under ISIS dictat.
Gani Mirzo, a Syrian Kurd and lute player who lives in Spain, composed the music for the film.
"I did not just create the music for the film, but also the idea behind the documentary was mine. It was a project to tell all how we could reconstruct our Rojava through music instruments," Mirozo told Rudaw TV from Spanish city of Barcelona on Wednesday night. "It was great for the whole of Europe that we, as Kurdish people, are all the time for peace and are interested in music.”
Rudaw Media Network was media sponsor of the documentary.
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