International Film Festival kicks off in Slemani

The international film festival SIFF is taking place for the fifth time in Slemani (Sulaymaniyah) city in southern Kurdistan (Northern Iraq). Many people attended the opening on Friday at the Talar Cultural Centre. Central themes of this year’s festival are global environmental awareness and migration.

The seven-day event will screen 143 films from 35 countries. Of these, 57 are Kurdish films and 21 foreign films have Kurdish subtitles. The opening film was Mali Dalya by Dana Kerim. The other films will be shown in the City Cinema. The closing event, including the award ceremony, will again take place in the Talat Cultural Centre. A total of 18 prizes will be awarded at the festival.

Today, Ji Bo Azadiyê (For Freedom, English title: The end will be spectacular) and Dema Dirîreşkan (Time of the Blackberries) are on the programme. The film “Ji bo Azadiyê” by Kurdish director Ersin Çelik is about the resistance of the Civil Defence Units (YPS) against the siege of the Turkish military in Amed’s ancient Sur district. “Time of Blackberries” by Haşim Aydemir is the film adaptation of the autobiographical guerrilla novel of the same name by Murat Türk.