Kurdish filmmaker Shwan Atoof’s short movie, Home and Key, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Italian Fiati Corti film festival held in Venice last week.
“The film is innovative in terms of its cinematography and narrative techniques,” Partillo Aatolodi, a head juror, told a panel at the weeklong festival.
The Fiat Corti is an international contest for short films that welcomes different producers every year in Italy. More than 200 short films from across the world participated in the gala this year, according to the festival’s webpage.
Home and Key, a 15- minute short film, deals with the sociopolitical reality of Kurdistan.
“There will be a day when Kurds will find the key to their sovereign home,” an emotional Atoof said as he received the award to an applauding audience.
Home and Key also participated in Arika Nativa film festival in Chile and won the Best Short Film Award earlier this year.
As an actor, Shwan Atoof, a native of Sulaimani has appeared in several popular TV drama series and films in the last few years.
Shirin and Farhad, a Romeo and Juliet like drama, made headlines in Kurdistan in 2012 as Atoof impressively portrayed the story of the ill-fated lover in the highly fictional version of the well-known tragic romance.
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