Kurdish Film ‘Jîran’ Premieres in the UK With Special Screening in Newcastle
The Kurdish feature film Jîran, directed by Mano Khalil, is screened in a special showing in Newcastle, UK, on Feb. 4, 2026, after participating in over 300 festivals and winning more than 70 awards.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Under the lights of a special screening hall in northern England, the Kurdish feature film Jîran arrives in the United Kingdom, carrying with it decades of memory, pain, and divided identities, as its director presents the work to a new audience on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026.
The feature film Jîran, directed by Mano Khalil and performed by a group of Kurdish and Arab actors, is scheduled to be screened in a special showing in the city of Newcastle in the UK.
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, Mano Khalil told Kurdistan24 that Jîran has participated in more than 300 international festivals and has won more than 70 awards. The film has been screened in countries including the US, Switzerland, Slovakia, Canada, Israel, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, where it received major awards.
Khalil explained that the film tells the story of a six-year-old Kurdish child living in a village near the border between Kurdistan of Turkey and Western Kurdistan in the city of Qamishlo. The child’s family is divided between Turkey and Syria.
He said the film also reflects fifty years of oppression under the Baath regime and is filled with pain and bitter memories for every Kurd. He described scenes of a child being beaten for speaking Kurdish, studying in Arabic at school, and speaking Kurdish at home, and of a border that divided land, homes, culture, feelings, and humanity.
The director added that, under the cover of Arabization and the forced settlement of Arabs in place of Kurds, attempts were made to change the demography of the region. From another perspective, the film also tells the story of Syrian Jews who were forced to leave their homes and properties and migrate. Another thread follows an Arab teacher who comes from the capital to Damascus and imposes slogans such as “One Arab Nation” and “Assad’s Syria,” along with other slogans, into the minds of students.
The film is directed by Mano Khalil, a filmmaker from Western Kurdistan who currently lives in Switzerland. He has directed more than twenty films and has won several international awards.
As Jîran reaches British screens, its stories of division, memory, and identity cross new borders, carrying the voices of a shared past into a wider world.