Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, a female Kurdish fighter guides her fellow fighters in the resistance to defend their city, Kobanê, from the deadly threat of ISIS. A real story of war, sacrifice, love and hope that kept the whole world on tenterhooks.
A musical about the history of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement
Zilan, a young woman, returns to her home town looking for traces of her dead brother, killed by ISIS. But her town is not what it used to be: social and political tensions have escalated into a state of war. The people have risen up to demand their political autonomy and the police and army repress them with brutal force. But the city’s resistance will go on for more than 100 days and Zilan will not remain a passive witness. Based on the diaries of those who died fighting and the testimony of survivors, who are the protagonists of the film, Çelik's first feature explores concepts such as hope, friendship, sacrifice and loss in the struggle for freedom of a group of young people.
Back in his hometown after his university studies, Servan is witness to the burning down of his village and a series of other atrocities which eventually lead him to join the Kurdish resistance. In the ranks of the Kurdish liberation movement, he is seriously injured in clashes with the Turkish army. In order not to slow down his comrades and allow them to escape, Servan insists that he be left behind. Against all odds, he survives, enduring several days of acute pain. However, his friends cannot come back to pick him up, the area being surrounded by Turkish soldiers. As the soldiers approach, Servan decides to leave his hide away in spite of his serious injuries. He sets out to find his friends, overcoming countless obstacles in the forest, but nevertheless helped by Kurdish villagers throughout his journey. However, he is hunted down by death squads and village guards.
Darên bitenê is a fascinating documentary exploring the “dengbej” musical heritage of the singers, poets and storytellers from Northern Syria’s region. Featuring a stunning scenery of poetic landscapes, the film is interlaced with stories of Kurdish and Assyrian songs that narrate the long history of love and suffering of this semi-autonomous region.
Huseyin and his family living in Kobane make a living from selling yogurt. Huseyin and his daughter Zelal set off to the city to sell yogurt. One day, they miss the bazaar time and start walking around the streets, trying to sell the yogurt. While trying to sell yogurt, they meet a boy named Hemudê, which leads to many misfortunes. Their one-day journey witnesses the reshaping of social dynamics in the aftermath of the Kobanê war.
Berfin is a young female guerrilla who has had to grow fast within Kurdistan war. As she tries to adapt to her new life at mountains peaks, she dives deep in her inner world seeking answers for her past. House raids, non-return leavings, the dead in the village square, the endless whispering of the elders and a mother who left her behind … Between her losses and the war in her country, Berfin takes the roads to pursue both her memories and her mother. A story of quest, war and longing; love, loss and struggle of a female guerrilla fighter of Kurdistan.
Documentary on the Turkish invasion of Afrin in Northern Syria in 2018.
Kurds call it Rojava, or the West, the place where the sun sets on Kurdish lands: the north of Syria, the stage of the most violent war of our times, painted in blood by the mass-rape and mass-killings of the ISIS terrorist organization. It is here, in Rojava, in three destroyed cities, that three separate stories tell the story of how savage war destroys not only our cities, but our people, too. Sinjar, Kobanî and Jazaa are three towns that display the most destructive impact of modern war. All three are in the process of being rebuilt at the moment. The people who live here have transformed their tragedies into a determination to leave a better Rojava for future generations.
Gule is preparing for her wedding the next day. Her family receives news of an imminent threat of war attack on the city. They must take a decision: Should they celebrate the wedding or not?
The Story of Nûjiyan Erhan.
In the Summer of 2014, the Islamic State invaded Shengal, the Ezidi capital in Kurdistan (Iraq). The plan was to exterminate the ethnical/religious minority who were despised and called “devil worshippers’. 5000 Ezidi men have been killed, and 7000 women and children have been taken into slavery. This film tells Shengal’s liberation through the stories of five partisans who are five archetypes of the many that came to fight against the Islamic State from several different countries.
The Ezidîs (Yazidis) in Kurdistan have been the victims of massacres numerous times. This documentary follows their bards, the dengbêj, and examines how their songs tell stories of love and genocide.
The documentary is telling the Rojava Revolution, with stories of Assyrian, Kurdish, Arabic people. This people are subjected to the ISIS attacks, on the other hand they are trying to build a communal system like democratic autonomy. This struggle is not easy in a region like Syria, where the war continues and showing the effects on people’s life.
Three women in Raqqa, NE Syria, are rebuilding their future after enduring incredible violence. First, the Baath regime wanted them in the house, then the violence of the Islamic State. Since October 2017 when the SDF recaptured the city, they had the opportunity to organize themselves and pick up new roles in society.
In a city ravaged by war, while society tries to cope with the consequences of war, a small girl found a peculiar way to survive. Home is the first short shot in the city of Raqqa, former capital of the Islamic State in Syria, after it has been liberated. The film reflects on the trauma of war through the powerful gaze of her young director, Syrian filmmaker Sevinaz Evdike, who has experienced it in first person.
