The festival is focusing on women with the theme ‘The Female Lens’ and opened with a movie that looks at traditional family relations.
Zagros tells the story of a Kurdish shepherd who, despite his family's accusation that his wife has had an affair, follows her and their daughter to Belgium.
Director Sahim Omar Kalifa was inspired by the many female Peshmerga he saw growing up in his hometown of Zagros.
"They became very strong and changed a lot of things in the Kurdish society," he said. "But because of the tradition of 1,000 years of Islamic influence, women were often victims."
"A lot of films have been made on how women are victims but by Zagros we have shown how men can also be victims of the society," he said.
"And also because of tradition, we cannot decide for ourselves, because we must pay attention to our culture and traditional families and many other things around us," he added. "We are not like Europeans who can decide things 100 percent by themselves."
This is Kalifa’s first feature film. He is internationally known for his short films, having won more than 100 awards around the world. Two of his short films have been selected for the Oscars.
DIFF, now in its sixth edition, always selects a Kurdish film to open with. It is the most established film festival in the Kurdistan Region and a favoured venue for homegrown talent to screen their creations.
“This year we selected eight Kurdish feature films among 15 or 16 submitted,” said the festival’s new artistic director Shawkat Amin Korki.
The festival is growing annually and receives over 1,000 submissions from around the world to choose from.
Duhok city, a provincial capital in the Kurdistan Region, has hosted the festival since 2012. In 2014, the festival was canceled because of the war against ISIS.
The event seeks to serve as a platform for cinema from all four parts of Kurdistan, the Kurdish diaspora, and to build connections between the Kurdish and world cinema industries.
The international version of the festival had a slow start in 2012. However, film communities around the world who know each other started sharing their opinions and recommendations for Duhok as an event venue.
DIFF runs through October 27.
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