Cinema

Kurdish director’s film to be screened at Toronto International Film Festival

The film was shot in the snowy regions of northern Norway. It tells the story of three young men whose deportation had been delayed because they were under the age of 18.

Kurdistan 24 2023/08/14 21:47

A scene from the ‘A Happy Day.’ (Photo: IMDb)

Kurdistan A Happy Day Hisham Zaman Toronto International Film Festival

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – ‘A Happy Day’, which was directed by Kurdish-Norwegian Hisham Zaman, has been nominated for the best world film award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film was shot in the snowy regions of northern Norway. It tells the story of three young men whose deportation had been delayed because they were under the age of 18. They were placed in a remote camp in Norway until they turned 18. The three young men decide to work together to escape from the camp, but after all three fall in love with the same girl, their plan fails.

Zaman is one of Norway's most famous directors whose works, unlike mainstream European cinema, present an invisible side of Europe that raises important and sensitive global issues, especially immigration policies. Through complex characters and black comedy, Zaman raises a controversial issue in European refugee policy that is rarely seen in mainstream Western cinema.

His other well-known movies are Bawke (2005), Winterland (2007), Before Snowfall (2013), and Letter to the King (2014).

With more than 480,000 attendees every year, the Toronto International Film Festival is one of the world's largest film festivals.