Kurdish tradition of storytelling crosses borders in a way politics cannot, filmmaker says
Telling Kurdish stories is a way to bridge borders and introduce Kurdish history and hopes to the world, believes filmmaker and author Kae Bahar.
“I believe storytelling is the most important part of our life,” said Kurdish filmmaker and author Kae Bahar. “It’s much more important than oil for us.”
Films and books telling Kurdish stories can connect with people around the world in a way diplomats and media can never do, he said.
Bahar grew up in Kirkuk surrounded by the heroes of the stories his father would tell him, personalities from Kurdish folklore who Bahar saw mirrored in the characters of Superman and Sinbad at the cinema.
His passion for storytelling developed into a career as an actor, screenplay writer, author, and filmmaker. He has dedicated his life to introducing Kurds to the world and encouraging the development of Kurdish artists and the film industry to tell uniquely Kurdish stories.
Bahar is the author of Letters From a Kurd, the first Kurdish novel written in English. The book tells the story of Mariwan, a young boy in Kirkuk finding escape from the grim reality of life as a Kurd under Saddam Hussein in the magic of cinema.
His documentary, The Kurdish Dream: War or Peace, which is about the Kurdish dream of independence, had its world premiere at the Duhok International Film Festival earlier this month. It will be screened at Saad Abdullah Palace Conference Centre in Erbil on October 5 and the Salm Cinema in Sulaimani on October 8.
The following is an edited version of our interview with Bahar.
Kae Bahar: When I left Kurdistan in 1980, I went to Italy. I thought, now that I am in Europe, I’ve actually reached a world where I can be free, no more Saddam’s dictatorship around me. But also, as a Kurd, I can enjoy my life to be myself, with my own identity. But the minute I presented myself as a Kurd from Kurdistan, they were really puzzled, saying, ‘Pakistan?’
When I realized how little the world knew about us, I had to abandon my big love and my passion for the sake of the Kurds and Kurdistan, and to start with documentary films, with the only purpose of trying to take Kurdistan to the world. With my partner Claudio von Planta, we’ve been doing films now for 20 years, coming and going, primarily Kurdistan for me, with the only purpose so that I would not be asked, where do you come from, Pakistan?
With The Kurdish Dream: War or Peace, as the title itself says, I would like to present Kurdistan to the world. Do you want war? Keep Kurdistan as it is. Do you want peace? Give it a chance to become independent, support it. That’s the film.
Because of ISIS, suddenly we were Kurdistan or Kurds, or Peshmerga, at least, Kobane, Shingal, but not beyond that. We are not known. So in the film, we are not concentrating only on ‘bang, bang, bang,’ which many of the documentaries primarily concentrate, focus on. We are actually exploring culture, history. We have fantastic sequences that I am very pleased we managed to include in the film about wonderful sights in Kurdistan. I didn’t even know about it myself. And also, we recorded lots of musicians, many, many different musicians on the ground. So we created a soundtrack that is combined by original music from Kurdistan and Barrie Bignold mixed everything together, composing the music.
The theme of last month’s Duhok film festival was borders, art crossing borders. What do you think is the role art plays in obtaining the Kurdish dream?
I think it’s mainstream media. It’s very hard to find any independent media without an agenda. And mainstream media portray the Kurds -- this really upsets me -- never directly, almost never directly, primarily for the Kurds. But because they are talking about ISIS, Kurds come into it. But because they are talking about the crisis in Iraq, Kurds come into it, or Turkey. I feel like there is almost a boycott on us.
And I think, in that regard, The Kurdish Dream: War or Peace can cross all the borders everywhere, to reach people to tell them exactly the truth, rather than packaged for a certain purpose and agenda.
Our politicians, our diplomats, when they go abroad they can’t cross all the borders. Although they fly into the UK, they’re sitting with some politicians and diplomats, not with the people of the UK, whereas our film will go and sit with the people of the UK. And that is what is more important.
Do you see a difference in the films that come out of for example from Iran, where there are a lot more local Kurdish filmmakers, a stronger film industry, versus films in the Kurdistan Region, where there isn’t a strong or old film making tradition?
Iranian cinema, as you know, is really advanced, with a long history and great filmmakers. And it’s got its own style, auteur film. Such as once was the new realism in Italy. Turkey has got its own version of Bollywood kind of. Then there is Egypt. These are the three countries strong in filmmaking historically. Our filmmakers in Kurdistan Region, this is another big mistake they make, they are trying to copy these three countries.
To develop the film industry here, you need a good base of technical expertise, actors, skilled technicians. Is there that community here?
The talent is there. Well, let’s say not the talent - the passion is there, great passion; but apart from the passion, unfortunately, no.
Let’s talk about your book. You say your father was illiterate and you dedicate the book to your parents, who have never read a book. How did your love of literature develop? How did you come to be an author without growing up with books?
My parents were great in storytelling. We didn’t have books but I remember, and I remember deliciously, those evenings or nights where I put my head on his lap and he would tell me another mythical story. And it was so fantastic, because to me it was immediately like Robin Hood, but the Kurdish version, King Arthur, but the Kurdish version. It’s incredible how stories ultimately are similar but set in different lands and different times, like Cinderella but the Kurdish version.
And so they really created this magical world around me. Plus I could correspond to it even more because of the films I would see. And I believe storytelling is the most important part of our lives.
Has the storytelling tradition in Kurdistan been strengthened because you were a persecuted people. You didn’t have the opportunity to write your history down so oral storytelling became important?
Because we didn’t have the opportunity of going for studies, orally, storytelling became very important. If you read Kurdish poetry, poems -- that again most are storytelling. For example, we have Hairan, this mountainous way of singing. It’s a very old, folk way of Kurdish singing. Or Hawrami, they’re all storytelling. Very few stories are written; very rare, very, very rare.
Telling Kurdish stories is a way to bridge borders and introduce Kurdish history and hopes to the world, believes filmmaker and author Kae Bahar.
“I believe storytelling is the most important part of our life,” said Kurdish filmmaker and author Kae Bahar. “It’s much more important than oil for us.”
Films and books telling Kurdish stories can connect with people around the world in a way diplomats and media can never do, he said.
Bahar grew up in Kirkuk surrounded by the heroes of the stories his father would tell him, personalities from Kurdish folklore who Bahar saw mirrored in the characters of Superman and Sinbad at the cinema.
His passion for storytelling developed into a career as an actor, screenplay writer, author, and filmmaker. He has dedicated his life to introducing Kurds to the world and encouraging the development of Kurdish artists and the film industry to tell uniquely Kurdish stories.
Bahar is the author of Letters From a Kurd, the first Kurdish novel written in English. The book tells the story of Mariwan, a young boy in Kirkuk finding escape from the grim reality of life as a Kurd under Saddam Hussein in the magic of cinema.
His documentary, The Kurdish Dream: War or Peace, which is about the Kurdish dream of independence, had its world premiere at the Duhok International Film Festival earlier this month. It will be screened at Saad Abdullah Palace Conference Centre in Erbil on October 5 and the Salm Cinema in Sulaimani on October 8.
The following is an edited version of our interview with Bahar.
Rudaw: Tell me about the film The Kurdish Dream: War or Peace.
Kae Bahar: When I left Kurdistan in 1980, I went to Italy. I thought, now that I am in Europe, I’ve actually reached a world where I can be free, no more Saddam’s dictatorship around me. But also, as a Kurd, I can enjoy my life to be myself, with my own identity. But the minute I presented myself as a Kurd from Kurdistan, they were really puzzled, saying, ‘Pakistan?’
When I realized how little the world knew about us, I had to abandon my big love and my passion for the sake of the Kurds and Kurdistan, and to start with documentary films, with the only purpose of trying to take Kurdistan to the world. With my partner Claudio von Planta, we’ve been doing films now for 20 years, coming and going, primarily Kurdistan for me, with the only purpose so that I would not be asked, where do you come from, Pakistan?
With The Kurdish Dream: War or Peace, as the title itself says, I would like to present Kurdistan to the world. Do you want war? Keep Kurdistan as it is. Do you want peace? Give it a chance to become independent, support it. That’s the film.
Because of ISIS, suddenly we were Kurdistan or Kurds, or Peshmerga, at least, Kobane, Shingal, but not beyond that. We are not known. So in the film, we are not concentrating only on ‘bang, bang, bang,’ which many of the documentaries primarily concentrate, focus on. We are actually exploring culture, history. We have fantastic sequences that I am very pleased we managed to include in the film about wonderful sights in Kurdistan. I didn’t even know about it myself. And also, we recorded lots of musicians, many, many different musicians on the ground. So we created a soundtrack that is combined by original music from Kurdistan and Barrie Bignold mixed everything together, composing the music.
The theme of last month’s Duhok film festival was borders, art crossing borders. What do you think is the role art plays in obtaining the Kurdish dream?
I think it’s mainstream media. It’s very hard to find any independent media without an agenda. And mainstream media portray the Kurds -- this really upsets me -- never directly, almost never directly, primarily for the Kurds. But because they are talking about ISIS, Kurds come into it. But because they are talking about the crisis in Iraq, Kurds come into it, or Turkey. I feel like there is almost a boycott on us.
And I think, in that regard, The Kurdish Dream: War or Peace can cross all the borders everywhere, to reach people to tell them exactly the truth, rather than packaged for a certain purpose and agenda.
Our politicians, our diplomats, when they go abroad they can’t cross all the borders. Although they fly into the UK, they’re sitting with some politicians and diplomats, not with the people of the UK, whereas our film will go and sit with the people of the UK. And that is what is more important.
Do you see a difference in the films that come out of for example from Iran, where there are a lot more local Kurdish filmmakers, a stronger film industry, versus films in the Kurdistan Region, where there isn’t a strong or old film making tradition?
Iranian cinema, as you know, is really advanced, with a long history and great filmmakers. And it’s got its own style, auteur film. Such as once was the new realism in Italy. Turkey has got its own version of Bollywood kind of. Then there is Egypt. These are the three countries strong in filmmaking historically. Our filmmakers in Kurdistan Region, this is another big mistake they make, they are trying to copy these three countries.
To develop the film industry here, you need a good base of technical expertise, actors, skilled technicians. Is there that community here?
The talent is there. Well, let’s say not the talent - the passion is there, great passion; but apart from the passion, unfortunately, no.
Let’s talk about your book. You say your father was illiterate and you dedicate the book to your parents, who have never read a book. How did your love of literature develop? How did you come to be an author without growing up with books?
My parents were great in storytelling. We didn’t have books but I remember, and I remember deliciously, those evenings or nights where I put my head on his lap and he would tell me another mythical story. And it was so fantastic, because to me it was immediately like Robin Hood, but the Kurdish version, King Arthur, but the Kurdish version. It’s incredible how stories ultimately are similar but set in different lands and different times, like Cinderella but the Kurdish version.
And so they really created this magical world around me. Plus I could correspond to it even more because of the films I would see. And I believe storytelling is the most important part of our lives.
Has the storytelling tradition in Kurdistan been strengthened because you were a persecuted people. You didn’t have the opportunity to write your history down so oral storytelling became important?
Because we didn’t have the opportunity of going for studies, orally, storytelling became very important. If you read Kurdish poetry, poems -- that again most are storytelling. For example, we have Hairan, this mountainous way of singing. It’s a very old, folk way of Kurdish singing. Or Hawrami, they’re all storytelling. Very few stories are written; very rare, very, very rare.
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