Across the capital, the Moscow Kurdish Film Festival opens a window to cinemas from a broad arc of origin stories, stretching from Iran and Iraq through Kurdistan, Turkey, France, Syria, and Denmark. The event kicks off with the Iraqi feature Sinjar, directed by Anna M. Bofarul, on September 18, signaling a week of screenings, discussions, and shared cultural exchange. Organizers outline the festival as a gathering not only of entertainment but of conversation, inviting film lovers in Canada, the United States, and beyond to experience Kurdish and neighboring regional storytelling on the big screen. The choice of Sinjar, a title with immediate resonance for communities that remember or study the region’s recent history, sets the tone for a program that values memory, resilience, and voices that often live outside the mainstream festival circuit.
This edition places intercultural dialogue at its heart, emphasizing collaboration with Russia as a partner in presenting diverse cinema. The feature film competition comprises seven titles that originate in Iraq, Turkey, and Kurdistan, while the festival’s international lineup spans twelve countries, with Canada and the Netherlands among them. The program aims to illuminate cross-border narratives, celebrate cinematic craft, and foster conversations about identity, migration, and social change for audiences across North America and Europe as well as within Russia.
Within the competition, Mosul, My Home by Adalet R. Garmiani presents an experimental journey through the ruins and the stillness after conflict, inviting viewers to walk alongside memory through Mosul’s streets as they recount what war leaves behind. Hejwan Zendi’s 1988 historical drama revisits the Halabja gas attack during the Iran–Iraq War, grounding its storytelling in a real event that shaped modern regional history. Both titles anchor the program in a commitment to personal perspective and collective memory, offering images that linger long after the credits roll.
Mehdi Ahmed, representing Kurdistan, offers The Horse, a narrative following a protagonist who longs to return home after the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime. The film uses intimate, character-driven scenes to trace the emotional geography of displacement, belonging, and the stubborn pull of home. Saheem Omar Khalif’s Baghdad Messi from Iraq follows a ten-year-old boy who clings to a footballing dream amid the disruptions of war, portraying youth resilience and the universal language of sport as a beacon of hope in difficult times.
Özkan Küçük’s Good Days tells the story of Kurdish actors striving to bring a long-banned play to the stage, a project that becomes a lens on artistic freedom, community memory, and the courage it takes to reassert cultural expression after years of restraint. The film blends behind-the-scenes moments with stagecraft, highlighting how art survives even when political barriers attempt to silence it.
Beyond features, the festival showcases documentary and short-film competitions that illuminate social realities and personal stories, many addressing women’s issues and the social realities faced by women in Kurdistan, inviting audiences to rethink stereotypes while considering the broader context of regional change and women’s voices in contemporary society.
Earlier, Russia declined to issue a distribution certificate for a film about a famous Russian poet, a decision that underscores the ongoing debates over cultural control and access in the region. The festival, by contrast, remains a stage for varied voices from the Kurdish world and its neighbors, providing a platform where difficult histories and hopeful futures can be discussed openly by international audiences.