There are a number of Kurdish director from different countries whose artistic work draw international attention and win major prizes at international film festivals. Below is the list of some of the most known Kurdish directors. Yilmaz Guney
lots of feature films but the most popular ones are; ‘Seyitxan’, ‘Arkadas’ (Friend), Endise (Anxiety), Umut (Hope), ‘Yol’ (The Road), ‘Suru’ (The Herd) and ‘Duvar’ (The Wall).
These are ‘A Time For Drunken Horses’, ‘Marooned in Iraq-Songs of My Motherland’, ‘Turtles Can Fly’ and Half Moon. Last year Ghobadi has been chosen 'one of the best living 100 director' in the world.
one feature film. These are ‘Ax’ (short film), ‘Photograph’ and ‘Dur’ (documentary).
live the Bride-Liberation of Kurdistan’, 'Beyond our Dreams', ‘Vodka-Lemon’ and ‘Zero Kilometre’.
Layla’ which has been invited to 23. Jerusalem Film Festival in 2006.
in Kurdistan. He established his own production company called Evini Films. >>> read biography of Jano Rosebiani >>>
won the best documentary awards at Innsbruck Film Festival in Austria in 2006. Yesiloz has also two other documentaries 'Fasting to Topple Walls' and 'Alevit Songs'. His has completed a new documentary about some musicians living in Switzerland, called "Musikliebe" (Love of Music), in 2007. Jamil Rostami
Requiem of Snow in 2005. Rostami currently filming Jan-i Gal (The Agony of a People) in Kurdistan Region of Irak. Said Kekeyi He made a docu-drama called "Waiting for Hiwa" which deals with the Halabja massacre, in 2002. Aras Rashid A Kurdish director from South Kurdistan based in Sweden. His feature film "The Burning Paradise" shot in 1999. Hussein Hassan Ali
programmes in a local television and shot video clips for different artisists and singers. He shot a number of short film, Narcissus Blossoom, (U Nergis Biskivin) his first feature film which Ali directed with Massoud Arif Saleeh.
years old. Then Saleeh started to work in some local tv. stations. He is the co-director of Narcissus Blossom, (U Nergis Biskivin).
Tears" (Firmiski Bexal) in 2005 in Iraqi Kurdistan. Omar now is woking on his next project called
in Germany. Polat shot a several short films such as Fremdennacht (The Night of Foreigner-1992), Ein Fest für Beyhau (A Fist for Beyhou-1993) ve Gräfin Sofia Hatun (Mrs Barones Sofia-1997) Her first feature film Auslandstournee (Trip out of Country-1999) won young talent award in Ankara Film Festival. Polat's last feature En Garde-2004 won special prizes at Hamburg ve Locarno film festivals. Yuksel Yavuz
when he was 16 years old. He studied at Hamburg Fine Arts School between 1992-1998. Yazuz's won the best documentary award with his first short film 'My Father a Guess Worker" in 1995. Yavuz shot his first feature 'The April Children' in 1998 and and won special awards at Salemo adn San Francisco Film Festivals. Jiyar Gol Born in Eastern Kurdistan, Gol lives in Canada since 1998. He owns Jiyar Productions Inc. and has produced several documentaries until now including; 'Liberation of Occupation? A Passage Through Iraq-2004', 'The Emblem Of Turkey. The Kurdish Problem,' 'The Struggle For Justice; Leyla Zana': Leyla Zana a Kurdish Parliamentarian who was imprisoned for 11 years for simply speaking Kurdish in the Turkish National Assembly. Gol graduated at Vancouver Film School majoring in Documentary Filmmaking. Rahim Zabihi Zahibi is a young Kurdish director from eastern Kurdistan and still lives in Iran. He made his first feature film last year called 'Roja Duyemin' (Second Day). Zahibi also shot several short films and invited to some film festivals. Sirin Cihani
di nav rojê de bêreng in' (The stars do not have colurs during daylight). Cihani has also shot several documentaries including the one that tells the life of famous Kurdish poets Siware Ilxanizade and Jila Huseyni. Özay Sahin
in Germany. Sahin made an excellent documentary called 'Can Baz' which tells tragedy of three Kurdish boys on of them is addictive to tiner. She also writes scenerios and invited to several film festival in Europe and Turkey. Arin Inan Arslan
talent who made two short films called 'Kirinti' (Crumb-2004) ve 'Si u Ba' (Shadow and Wind-2006). Arslan received special jury awards at 16. Ankara International Film Festival and 26. IFSAK Festival. Arslan also won Yilmaz Güney best film award in 1. TKM Short Film Festival by his first short film.
Kürdistan Müjde lives in Istanbul. She shot her first short film 'Son Oyun' (Last Game-2005) and won best picture award in Marmara University Short Film Festival. She is currently workin on her next project 'Kemik' (Bone). Nazmi Kirik
short film 'Kimlik' (Identity-2006) and has already been invited to 43. Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival's short film competition section. Kirik took important roles in the films of Photograph, Journey to the Sun, Zero Kilometre, Dole (Hiner Saleem's latest feature) and Organized Businesses (directed by famous Kurdish director Yilmaz Erdogan).
mainly short films and documentaries such as “The War Game” (short film\ 1999), “The Palace” (documentary, 2000-2002), “The Story” (short film, 2003), “The German Shovel” (documentary, 2005)\ “Gül-i Zare” (documentary, not finished yet), “The Weed” (documentary, 2006), “Eyüp Sultan” (documentary, 2006), “The top of yellow is Düzgün” (documentary , 2006), “Two fishes, for people” (short film , 2007) and “Sayd” (documentary, 2007). Hiwa Aminnejad
middle class family. He obtained a diploma in Film Direction at the Association of Cinema for Youth in Tabriz. From 1998 to 2001, he practiced photography and participated in several national photos exhibitions. In 2001, he made his first short film “ Parasite”. “Atesh e Kebrit” won the “Best Picture” award at “Esfahan International Film Festival for Youth and Young Adults”. “Agar do bare harf bezanam” was selected among 20 films for the Short Film Festival in London”. “Hannabadan e dictator” was shot in Kurdistan, Iraq in 2005. (kanifilms.com)
Kurdistan. In addition to a number of theatrical plays, he has directed some short films and one feature length including The White Page (2007, short) which was shown at 37. Rotterdam International Film Festival. Shaxawan Idrees
newspapers. He directed a short film titled "We Have Gasoline". Idrees currently works as production manager at the Cinema Department of the Ministry of Culture in Kurdistan. Mehdi Hesen
currently works as director for Kurdistan satellite TV. He made a short film titled "Water" (2007) which was received the Yilmaz Guney Bronze award at the London Kurdish Film Festival in 2007. Zirek Mira
Kurdistan. He makes experimental and symbolic short films. One of them is a short film shot in 2007, titled "Searching for God". He is known for his innovative experimental sculptures, some of which captured international attention. Among his most daring works was a giant statue of Saddam made entirely by dead soldier’s boots in 2003. Inspired by Bunuel’s and Dali’s “Dogs of Andalusia” he began making experimental and symbolic short films. “Searching for God” is his second such film, which may best be described as an extension of his statue of boots in theme and irony. "Breath" (Henase) is the directors another short film which is a piece of artistry about life's continuation despite oppression, symbolizing the Kurdish resilience in the face of tyranny
was 17 years old. In 2001 he moved to Belgium and studied at St Lukas film School in 2004 in Brussels. Until now Omer Kalifa has shot 14 short films. His film "Ava Reş" (Black Water) won the jury award in Melbourne Kurdish film festival in Australia in 2007. Ibrahim Selman
He shot several feature and around 80 short films. Selman, wrote, directed and played in this film "Think an end of this performance" shot in 1978. In 1993 he shot "A silent traveller", long feature film. >>> read biography of Ibrahim Selman >>> Erol Mintaş
Computer and Teaching Technologies Department of the Marmara University in 2006 and started studying for the master’s degree for Cinema- TV in the Institute of Fine Arts of the Marmara University. He has written articles about cinema in different newspapers (Evrensel, Radikal Genç …). He has still been working on his thesis about “Existentialism and Cinema of Tarkovsky”. Mintas shot his first short film Kül (Ash) in 2006, (15m), and his second short film Gidememek in 2007, (15m). He shot Erostrate (15m) in the same year. His last short film Butîmar (2008, 20m) was the second runner up of the competition of scenario of the Ministry of Culture and TURSAK. Babak Amini
the Kurdistan province of Iran. He went to school in Tehran and graduated with a degree in philosophy. Babak worked for 10 years as assistant to director Bahman Ghobadi in his films 'A Time for Drunken Horses', 'Turtles Can Fly', and 'Half Moon'. Amini's "Angels Die in the Soil" has also appeared in the 16th Archipelago Film Festival in Italy and the 2008 EcoVision Festival as well as the 24th Festroia Film Festival in Portugal, Berlin's Kurdish Film Festival and the 9th Seoul Film Festival. At Palm Springs International Shortfest 2008 "Angels Die in the Soil" won Cinema Without Borders Best International Film Award Shewket Amin Korki
Kurdistan, in 1973. In 1975 Korki was forced (by the Iraqi military) to flee to Iran together with his family and stayed in Iran until 1999. Shewket Amin Korki has worked in theater, TV and cinema in Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan. Korki has directed many short films and entered in many film festivals where he got some awards. Korki orginized Erbil First Short Film Festival in 2002 in Kurdistan. Korki has also directed his first feature film in 2006, Crossing the Dust (2006), a fiction film shot on 35mm and runs for 74 min. for more info about the director >>> Atta Othman
at the Fine Arts academy in Baghdad University and studied Television in Sidney (Australia ). He made his first feature (The Return) in 1994 and his second feature film was (Dream) in 2000. Othman made many short films and some documentaries, also he was awarded as a best director in Sulimanya Film Festival in 1995. He also got the award for the best script writer in Sulimanya Short Film Festival in 2007. Atta Othman currently working as a technical director in KNN Channel in Sulimanya. Mano Khalil
Law at DamascusUniversity between 1981-1986 then went to former Czechoslovakia.to study in Fiction Film Direction between 1987-1994. Khalil worked as an independent film director for Czechoslovakian and later for the Slovakian Television. Since 1996 he lives in Switzerland and works as an independent film director. Mano Khalil has directed many films most of them documentaries. Below is his filmography: 1988- Oh world!, 16mm, 11Min. 1989- My pain, My hope, 16 mm, 15 min. 1990- Embassy, 16mm, 22 Min. 1991- Oh father, 35mm, 21 min.(School films) 1990- My God 16mm, 20Min.Czechoslovakian TV. 1993– The Place Where God Sleeps, 16mm, 30Min. (Khalil won 1. Price in the Independent International film festival of Augsburg – in Germany 1995- Kino-ocko (Kino eye) 16mm, 20Min Slovak TV. 1998- Triumph of Iron. Beta SP, 31min. (This film won UBS Acknowledgement Price in Solothurner Filmtage Switzerland and was nominated for the Swiss Film price in 2000, in the category of best short film. 2001- Script Gala. Price for the script development of the Swiss Author Society – at Locarno Film festival. 2003- Colorful Dreams. 60.Min 35 mm. co-production Swiss TV (Colofrul Dreams won best Music Film prise at Canton Bern 2005- Al-Anfal, "in the name of Allah, Baath and Saddam" 52 min. Digi Beta co- production with Swiss TV. 2006- David the Tolhildan, Digi-beta. Co production with Swiss TV. 2009- My Prison My Home 2010- Our Garden of Eden Ferit Karahan
university years. He commenced studying electrial teacher at the Marmara University(2000-2005). Between 2002-2004, he studied on cinema in a cultural foundation. Afterwards this period, he conducted workshops with young moviemakers, resulting in short films. He gave lectures on directoring. He also shot the films Analog and fotofobia in the same period. Between 2003 and 2006, he, had worked at various production company shot many advertisement films, educational films, commercial documentaries and videos. He also worked as a assistant at various production .. Between 2006 and 2008 he has worked at various programmes at Roj tv as a director. Lastly he has took place as a second director at press which is a long-lenght film. And he shot Beriya Tofanê/ Before the Flood reference to Ceylan Önkol and applied to all children victims of war. Recently he is working at Avrupa film as a director. * Special note: This list is not complete. Please help us to complete this list. If you are a Kurdish director and would like your name appear in the list or you have some update about your work please send us some information about yourself. Our e-mail: kurdishcinema@hotmail.com |
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