2nd Istanbul Kurdish Film Festival to be held on March 24

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The 2nd Istanbul Kurdish Film Festival will be held on March 24-29 with dozens of films made by Kurdish filmmakers.

The festival will include 30 films, including feature films, documentaries and short films with movies from Kurdistan and other countries where Kurds live.

The opening film will be "Yezidi Kurds” shot by Amasi Martirosyan in 1933.

During the festival, Kurdish film makers will come together and discuss the current state of Kurdish cinema.

Adar Taş from the festival committee told the Turkish press agency Bianet that they “want this festival to be a place where Kurdish filmmakers can screen their films and offer their works primarily to the Kurdish audience and all moviegoers.”

“Even though this is our first objective, we want to establish a powerful representation of Kurds in world cinema and contribute to the Kurdish cinema and the world with our own color.”

Since 2000, there have been Kurdish Film Festivals all across the world, including in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the US, and the Kurdistan Region itself in both Duhok and Sulaimani.

However, following the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, many Kurdish film festivals were forced to go online after physical events were closed.

Read More: Amsterdam Kurdish Film Festival to be held in May

In May, a Kurdish film festival will also be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.