Kurdistan
Posters from Rudaw documentaries (left) and the Sulaimani Film Festival (right). Graphic: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Fifth Sulaimani International Film Festival will be held on Thursday under the slogan “Kurdish Culture and Mother Tongue,” celebrating cinema’s role in preserving Kurdish language and cultural identity. The week-long event features 150 films from 30 countries, with Rudaw Media Network serving as the official media sponsor and presenting 31 documentaries of its own.
Held at the University of Sulaimani’s Congress Hall and City Cinema halls, this year’s festival is the largest since its launch, with entries selected from over 1,500 submissions. About 250 local and international guests, including renowned Arab and world cinema figures, are set to attend the opening ceremony, which will feature a ceramic art exhibition and live music by the Payiz group.
“This year’s festival sheds light on the Kurdish language and the voice of the youth. It emphasizes the firm link between cinema, cultural identity and the preservation of national heritage,” Festival director Fuad Jalal told Rudaw.
Awards and highlights
Four honorary awards will be presented during the festival:
- The Ahmet Kaya Award to well-known Turkish scholar and sociologist Ismail Besikci
- The Taha Karimi Award to Mam Pola, known for supporting Kurdish cinema
- The Martyr Parcham Award to Kurdish actress Zhyan Ibrahim Khayat
- The Shkomandi Award to popular Kurdish artist Bijan Kamkar
The festival includes seven sections across domestic and international competitions, with 19 awards to be given to outstanding filmmakers. Juries are chaired by leading Kurdish directors such as Shawkat Amin Korki, Dilshad Mustafa, Jamil Rostami and Zahawi Sinjawi.
Films and panels
Of the 150 selected films, 95 will compete in short, documentary, feature, and youth categories, while 55 others will screen out of competition. Five discussion panels will also be held at the University of Sulaimani’s main meeting hall, covering topics such as the image of women in cinema, film funding and the role of art as a cultural ambassador.
International participation
Among the international entries is The Tower of Strength by Nikola Vukcevic, produced by Albania and Montenegro and submitted for this year’s Oscars. Other notable films include In the Blind Spot by Ayse Polat, exploring a German film crew’s journey in Turkey; and Sanjar Khan by Mohammed Hussein Latif about a Kurdish revolutionary from Iran.
Screenings will continue for five days across four City Cinema halls from 3:00 pm until late at night.
Rudaw’s participation
In addition to being the media sponsor, Rudaw Media Network is participating in the festival with 31 documentaries screened outside the main competition from October 10 to 14. The films represent Rudaw teams’ journeys into history, geography, and human stories across Kurdistan and the world, shown daily in two sessions from 4:45 to 6 pm and 6:30 to 7:45 pm.
A large portion of Rudaw’s documentaries focuses on Kurdish history and the injustices endured by the Kurdish people.
Films such as Mustafa Pasha Yamulki: A Struggler for Justice, Dakan Cave Massacre, Zargosha Genocide, and Burning of 300 Kurds shed light on the Baath regime’s crimes. Crosses in Mass Graves explores the Anfal campaign against Badinian Christians, while More Stateless than Wind documents the expulsion of Fayli Kurds.
Meanwhile, Rudaw presents cultural films about the struggles of poets and teachers to preserve Kurdish language and art.
Other Rudaw documentaries highlight social and humanitarian issues. From Germany to Garmian follows a German woman and a Peshmerga dedicated to serving Anfal survivors. A Forgotten Theater recounts the loss of a historic cultural space in Sulaimani.
Rudaw also addresses the global impact of war in Three Years of Devastating War, produced by Rudaw’s roving correspondent Dilnya Rahman, Harmony For After War about northeast Syria’s (Rojava) Kobane after the war with Islamic State (ISIS).
Rudaw’s documentary teams have also captured stories from distant corners of the world. The Blue Sapphire by Rudaw’s Payam Sarbast explores the perilous work of sapphire miners in Sri Lanka. Korowaiby Rudaw’s Roj Eli Zalla takes viewers into the lives of an isolated tribe in Indonesia, and Kumzar documents a nearly lost language in Oman believed to share Kurdish roots.
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