The 12th London Kurdish Film Festival will be held online between 16-27 April and will go global.
The festival will blaze a trail due to being held in partnership with other international Kurdish film festivals. For that reason, it has been named as the ‘Global Kurdish Film Festival’. This year the theme of the festival is ‘My Kurdistan’.
The festival has been organised by the London Kurdish Film Festival which aims to introduce Kurdish cinema to Europe and the world.
According to Abdulselam Yıldırım’s report, London Kurdish Film Festival Director, Ferhan Stêrk said, “Especially this year, the Kurdish Film Festival is in a shift from presentation and screening to production and progress. We are trying to present it clearly especially in our 12th Festival.”
It will continue for 12 days
Pointing to people who have been interested in Kurdish cinema for many years in London, Stêrk said, “Not only Kurdish people, but also other peoples living in London who show great interest in the London Kurdish Film Festival.”
Emphasising that the Kurdish Film Festival has been organising on an annual basis for years, Stêrk said, “This year the festival, which will be held between 16-27 April, and will last around 12 days and will take place online for free. Because the cinemas in London are still closed because of the Covid 19 pandemic.”
A different content
Stêrk also said they would present different content for audiences and added, “Around ten international Kurdish film festivals will come together in partnership and show their Kurdish films, which postponed had been their screenings. We hold this festival with a diversity including the Moscow Film Festival, Rêtaw Film Comune from Rojhilat (eastern Kurdistan), Rojava International Film Festival, Solemaniyah International Film Festival, Amed Film Festival, Mesopotamia Film Festival, and festivals of New York, Hamburg, Los Angeles and Barcelona.”
Best films of last 20 years
Explaining that the best films of Kurdish cinema of the last 20 years, including Yılmaz Güney’s films, would be shown in the programme of the festival, Stêrk said, around one hundred films would be displayed in total with an aim of presenting Kurdish culture, images and symbols through Kurdish films. The festival will also include documentary films, short films and animation films.
