FEATURE FILMS

ESCAPE TO PARADISE

Director: Nino Jacusso
Cast: Duzgun Ayhan, Fidan Firat, Walo Luond
Switzerland 2001 / 90m / Turkish with English subtitles

A Kurdish refugee family who are applying for political asylum in Switzerland are sent to an immigration centre. Their future will only be secure if they can present a convincing case. They turn to a Swiss man who claims he can supply them with the documents and stories which will convince the immigration authorities.

A HANDFUL OF GRASS

Director: Roland Suso Richter
Cast: Oliver Korittke, Arman Kuru, Lisa Martinek, Ercan Durmaz
Germany 1999 / 114m / Kirmanji and German with English subtitles

Ten-year-old Kendal lives in a poor Kurdish village. His uncle who is involved in drugs trafficking in Hamburg, takes Kendal to Germany. After his uncle is arrested, the boy is looked after by a German taxi driver, but eventually ends up in a children’s home. His uncle tracks him down, and Kendal soon begins work as a drug pusher.

HEJAR (Büyük Adam Küçük Ask)

Director: Handan Ipekci
Cast: Dilan Ercetin, Sukran Gungor, Fusun Demirel, Yildiz Kenter
Turkey 2001 / 120m / Turkish and Kurdish with English subtitles

This controversial – and recently banned – film was unanimously nominated to represent Turkey at the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Film category. At the film's heart is the relationship between a nationalist, authoritarian judge (Sukran Gungor) and a five-year-old Kurdish orphan (Dilan Ercetin). The judge, who is the girl's neighbour, takes her in following a botched police raid that results in the death of her guardian. HEJAR was the winner of several awards, including Best Picture, at Turkey’s prestigious Golden Orange Film Festival (2001). Also stars veteran theatre and film actress Yildiz Kenter.

HOUSE OF HEARTS

Director: Elizabeth Rygard
Cast: Bora Akkas, Mazlum Cimen, Sebnem Kostem
Germany 2002 / 88m / Turkish with English subtitles

A drama of separation seen through the eyes of a seven-year-old boy, Osman, whose parents leave Turkey to work in Europe. The drama is enveloped in the expressive Anatolian music, the overwhelming forces of nature and traditional poetry. Together they form some of the riches Osman carries in the suitcase that accompanies him to his new life.

INNOWHERELAND

Director: Tayfun Pirselimoglu
Cast: Zuhal Olcay, Parkan Ozturan, Michael Mendl
Turkey-Germany 2001 / 94m / Turkish with English subtitles

Forty year old Sukrun tries to keep her only son Veysel away from the political activism in which her late husband was involved, and which has brought the family so much suffering. But one day Veysel disappears and Sukran’s attempts to find him meet only with silence from the authorities.

IN THIS WORLD

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Script: Tony Grisoni
Cast: Jamal Udin Mommand, Enayatullah Jumadin
Britain 2002 / 89m

Jamal Udin Torabi is a young Afghan refugee seeking asylum in this country. Born in Peshawar in the North West province of Pakistan, Jamal and a fellow refugee, Enayatullah Jumadin, are the subjects of Michael Winterbottom’s compelling and all too relevant most recent feature. The film follows them as they set out to travel overland to London, passing through Iran, Turkey, Italy and France – an arduous and life threatening journey which offers constant reminders of the desperation that lies behind it.

JIYAN

Director: Jano Rosebiani
Cast: Kurdo Galali, Pisheng Berzinci, Çoman Hawrami
Kurdistan 2002 / 94m / Kurdish with English subtitles

Five years after the infamous chemical and biological bombing of Halabja, Diyari, a Kurdish/American Samaritan, returns to his homeland to build an orphanage in what is left of Halabja. During the course of his stay, he meets a colourful bunch of townfolk, many of whom remain physically and/or psychologically marked with the effects of the chemical agents. Among them is Jiyan, a ten year old orphan. A strong bond between the two ensues and later he names the orphanage after her.

LONG LIVE THE BRIDE… AND THE LIBERATION OF KURDISTAN

Director: Hiner Saleem
Cast: Georges Corraface, Marina Kobakhidze, Tuncel Kurtiz
France 1997 / 96m / French and Kurdish with English subtitles

Set inside the 100,000-population Kurdish community in Paris. Cheto seeks a wife via videotapes while still seeing his French girlfriend, immigration office worker Christine. Cheto places an order for a beautiful girl, but he's disappointed when her sister, country girl Mina, arrives at the airport as a substitute. Family pressure forces him to marry her. Unhappy with the way she's treated by Cheto, Mina acquires some progressive ideas from Leila and other local feminists, leading to confrontations with Cheto.

MAROONED IN IRAQ

Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Cast: Allah-morad Rashtian, Faegh Mohammadi, Iran Ghobadi
Iran 2002 / 110m / Kurdish with English subtitles

The latest film from the director of A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES. An aging Kurdish singer, Mirza, persuades his two grown musician sons to accompany him on a mission into Iraq to locate his ex-wife, who, rumour has it, needs him. The journey takes them through a lawless land of bombs and bandits where the only policemen they encounter are handcuffed and in underwear. The film portrays the Kurds living on the border of Iran and Iraq not only as victims, but also as people who love music, life and children, and have a wicked sense of humour that enables them to survive persecution. Winner of the Best Film award at the Chicago Film Festival, although director Bahman Ghobadi turned down the award after the US authorities refused him an entry visa.

MEM AND ZIN

Director: Umit Elci
Cast: Meltem Doganay, Halil Ergun, Musa Anter, Fusun Demirel
Turkey 1991 / 90m / Turkish with English subtitles

During Kurdish New Year, Newroz, two brothers and two sisters go to the celebrations. Mem and Zin fall in love and exchange rings without ever knowing whether they will meet again. This story of two tragically separated lovers is also an allegory for the tragic fate of the Kurds, separated and denied.

A SILENT TRAVELLER

Director: Ibrahim Selman
Cast: Abdulkadir Yousif, Walid Hadji, Halima Sadik, Umet Ali. Bangin Abdulkadir, Said Ali
Netherlands / 92mins / 1994 / Kurdish with English subtitles

Conceived in Kurdistan, written in Holland and filmed in Greece, A SILENT TRAVELLER tells the story of life in a Kurdish village in South Kurdistan (Iraq), where the endless war between official forces and those fighting for a free Kurdistan leads to divided loyalties, killing and grief, even within families.

SIYABEND AND XACE

Director: Sahin Gok
Cast: Tarik Akan, Mine Cayiroglu, Yaman Okay, Yilmaz Erdogan
Turkey 1993 / 120m / Turkish with English subtitles

This film tells the love story of Xace and Siyabend. Siyabend is young and rebellious, an orphan brought up by his aunt. He leaves home and wanders around Kurdistan until he comes across Xace. Watch out for Yilmaz Erdogan in his first film role as Xace’s brother.

A SONG FOR BEKO

Director: Nizamettin Aric
Cast: Nizamettin Aric, Bezara Arsen, Lusika Hesen
Germany 1992 / 110m / Kurdish with English Subtitles

Nizamettin Aric made his directorial debut and also starred in the film, one of the first in Kurdish. Beko begins his long pilgrimage, in search of his brother, in Kurdish areas of Turkey, where he escapes arrest. Fleeing into Syria, this modern-day Odysseus then makes his way into the serenely beautiful highlands of the Kurdish areas of Iraq. Here, in a nomadic community caring for refugee children, Beko finds himself and a homeland.

TIREJ

Director: Halil Uysal
Editor: Ozgur Reyzan
Cast : Mehmet Emin, Harun Ahmed
Produced by: Martyr Sefkan Culture & Art School, Cinema Dept.
Kurdistan 2002 / 50m / Kurdish with English subtitles

A film written, directed and acted by real life guerrillas and based on a true story, this is perhaps the first feature made entirely by guerrillas. It tells the story of a clash with the Turkish army. After fierce fighting, two guerrillas survive and are encircled by the Turkish army. The war is seen from the perspective of the guerrillas. Will they survive? Will other guerrillas come to their rescue? What are their thoughts when they are fighting, and what will go into the diary of one of the guerrillas?

THE WIND WILL CARRY US

Director: Abas Kiarostami
Cast: Behzad Dourani and the inhabitants of Siah Dareh village
Iran 1999 / 118m / Kurdish and Farsi with English subtitles

A man from Tehran named Behzad drives with a camera crew to a remote Kurdish village clinging to the sides of two mountains. There, they secretly wait for an ailing 100-year-old woman named Mrs. Malek to die, apparently planning to film or tape the exotic traditional funeral ceremony they expect to take place afterward, during which some women mourners scratch and scar their faces. Behzad spends most of the movie biding his time in the village, circulating a false story, involving buried treasure, about the reason for his presence and chatting with a few locals – mainly a little boy named Farzad (Farzad Sohrabi), the old woman's grandson, who serves as his (and our) main source of information about the village.

WINTERFLOWER

Director: Kadir Sözen
Cast: Menderes Samanc¦lar, Meral Yüzgüleç, Cengiz Sezici
Germany 1996 / 107m / Turkish and German with English subtitles

Mehmut Umut, a Turkish immigrant whose residence permit has expired, is woken early one morning by the police and led away. He is deported from Germany the same day and sent back to Turkey. His wife and little son are left behind. Mehmet survives in Istanbul with temporary jobs as a warehouseman and waiter. He applies for an entry visa but when the application is rejected for no reason, he decides to go beyond the law and embarks on a dangerous journey.

YELLOW DAYS

Director: Ravin Asaf
Cast: Sandra Steffl, Hogar Tanya, Hama Ali Chan, Nur Surer
Germany 2002 / 85m / Kurdish with English subtitles

Thirteen year old "Devil" Pascha and his gang are always creating chaos in their village. No one escapes his cheeky pranks, be they the Mullah of the village, his mother or his sister. One day a German soprano singer visits the village to write her doctoral thesis. All the men of the village, including the feudal lord Ali Aga and the Mullah dream of marrying this golden haired angel. This gives "Devil" Pascha an opportunity to create even more mischief.