FREE online film festival brings Kurds together

[Anthea]

Online film festival brings Kurds together

More than 100 Kurdish films, classics and new releases, are available to watch for free online as part of a 12-day film festival that kicked off on Friday

The Global Kurdish Film Festival is organized by the London Kurdish Film Festival (LKFF) in partnership with 10 other Kurdish film festivals around the world, including Sulaimani, Rojava, Mezopotamya, Moscow, and Los Angeles.

“We have over 100 titles that you will be able to access completely free of charge. All films will be playable on the 16th of April at midnight (BST) London time where you will be able to watch 25 new feature films, 45 short films and 48 classic Kurdish films over the next 12 days,” LKFF announced on Thursday.

The films are free to view after signing up on the festival’s website

The theme for the festival is My Kurdistan. “We want to form a link between the audience and the films that will be streamed,” Ferhan Sterk, an organizer of the event, told Rudaw's Murat Ozdemir on Friday. Despite all the crises Kurds are now facing, the festival hopes to unite people and, through that, improve Kurdish cinema, he explained.

By partnering with other Kurdish festivals, organizers were able to gather an impressive list of films and “all the movies we present are produced by Kurds,” Zhila Latif, head of the festival’s art affairs, told Rudaw.

Most of the features are recent productions, made between 2018 and 2020, but they also have some classics available and are featuring the work of the legendary Kurdish director Yilmaz Guney who won the Cannes Film Festival Palm d’Or in 1985 for his movie Yol.

Some of the films are in competition.

“This year we have invited five incredible individuals from various parts of the world. With decades of experience in the film and cinema sector, these industry experts will be deliberating on the shortlisted films in competition and award the winning films in this year's New Selection Film Programme,” said LKFF.

This is LKFF’s 12th edition. Last year, the festival moved online because of the coronavirus pandemic, streaming more than 50 Kurdish short films.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/culture/16042021