Feature Selection
VKFF 2025 program, under the theme Mother Tongue, spotlights women filmmakers from across Kurdistan and the diaspora, whose 22 selected works explore the profound bonds between language, identity, and home. These intimate yet universal stories reveal the power of Kurdish cinema to preserve heritage while speaking to the shared human experience.
WINNERS
BY SOLEEN YUSUF
Germany | 2024 | 1h 19m
A little village on the Syrian-Turkish border, a six-year old Kurdish boy experiences his first year in an Arab school and sees how his little world is radically changed by absurd nationalism. With a fine sense of humor and satire, the film tells of a childhood, which, between dictatorship and dark drama, also has its light moments. How much friendship, love and solidarity are possible in times of repression and despotism?
Director’s Biography
Soleen Yusef (1987, Duhok, Iraqi Kurdistan) fled to Germany with her family at the age of nine. After training as a singer and actress, she studied directing at the Baden-Wurttemberg Film Academy. Her student film Trattoria premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2012, the year in which she also won the Germany Scholarship. Her work includes productions for Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+, and in 2024 she was selected as a talent for Face to Face with German Films. Winners is her first children’s film that won the German Film Award for Best Children’s Film in 2024.
- Screening time and date: Sat, Oct 17 | 6:30pm
- Location: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
A HAPPY DAY
By Hisham Zaman
Norway | 2023 | 1h 48m
Three teenage boys are stuck in a freezing refugee camp in the remote north of Norway: quiet and poetic Hamid, sensible Aras and easy-going Ismail. To avoid being sent out of the country on their 18th birthdays, they hatch an escape plan. Hamid is certain he can guide them to a place beyond the mountain where their dreams can be fulfilled. But when a troubled girl named Aida shows up, Hamid becomes fascinated with her. This jeopardizes the trio’s escape plan and poses a challenge to their friendship.
Director’s Biography
Hisham Zaman is an acclaimed Kurdish-Norwegian filmmaker whose work powerfully explores migration, identity, and belonging. Born in Kirkuk and relocating to Norway at 17, he graduated from the Norwegian Film School in 2004 before launching an internationally recognized career. His breakthrough short film BAWKE (2005) captivated audiences at Sundance and over 100 festivals worldwide. Zaman achieved unprecedented success at the Göteborg Film Festival, becoming the only director to win the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film in consecutive years with BEFORE SNOWFALL (2013) and LETTER TO THE KING (2014). His critically acclaimed A HAPPY DAY (2023) premiered at Toronto International Film Festival and earned a place on Norway’s Oscar shortlist.
- Screening Time: 7:30 pm, Oct 18
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
THE PASHA, MY MOTHER, AND I
By Nevine Gerits
Belgium | 2023 | 1h 23m
Shaped by her Kurdish mother’s activism and exile, filmmaker Nevine explores the weight of inherited legacy in ‘The Pasha, my mother and I.’ The film examines the complex mother-daughter relationship through the lens of cultural inheritance, questioning how we balance honoring our origins with forging our own paths, and how we can transform family history into meaningful guidance for those who come after us.
Director’s Biography
Nevine Gerits has always been interested in telling stories. At 18 she decided to study film at the Brussels School of Arts, Sint Lukas. Nevine started her career in 2000 in television work with public and commercial production companies. Between 2000 and 2015 she went from working as a researcher, editor, and reporter to pursuing her vocation as a director. 15 years of audiovisual experience have prepared her to tell her family’s story. ‘Le Pacha, ma mère et moi’ is Nevine’s debut feature documentary.
- Screening Time: 1:00 pm, Oct 18
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
Night and Fog in Kurdistan
By Shilan Saadi
Belgium, Canada, Georgia, Iran, Turkey | 2024 | 1h 25m
Night and Fog in Kurdistan tells the powerful story of seven Yezidi teenagers who survived the 2014 ISIS genocide. Directed by a Kurdish woman filmmaker with firsthand experience of war and displacement, the film follows their five-year migration journey from refugee camps in Turkey to relocation in Europe. Using innovative mixed methods of documentary making—graphics, maps, archival research, and storytelling—it documents the lasting trauma of genocide, the gendered and intersectional impacts of displacement, and the resilience of these young women as they turn their cameras on themselves, sharing their survival and growth through multiple displacements.
Director’s Biography
Shilan was born and grown up in Mahabad, a Kurdish city in Iran, where she is inspired by its culture. She Graduated with BA degree in Cinema from Sureh University of Tehran. She also participated in documentary filmmaking workshop titled “personal language in documentary film”, under supervision of Arne Bro in Danish film school of Denmark, and documentary filmmaking workshop under supervision of Asghar Farhadi. She is a Member of Iranian Documentary Filmmakers’ Association. She made three documentaries and two short films that screened and won some prizes in national and international film festivals. She participated in Berlinale Talents 2019.
- Screening Time: 2:00 pm, Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
WHEN THE WALNUT LEAVES TURN YELLOW
By Mehmet Ali Konar
Bakur, Kurdistan | 2023 | 1h 30m
Civan, the young father, is seriously ill and tries to teach his young son Feyzi how to manage his life and the cycle of his livelihood when he dies, without telling him that he is dying. As little Feyzi tries to make sense of what is happening, political conflicts, bans, disappearances, and the deaths of close relatives and neighbors around them make life a living hell. A father-son story from the war-ravaged Kurdistan of Turkey.
Director’s Biography
Mehmet Ali Konar is an independent Kurdish director based in Istanbul. He graduated from Marmara University Communication Faculty in 2005 and studied Italian Cinema in Rome. Having worked in Turkey’s TV industry, he has written and directed three films that have earned over 40 national and international awards, including Best Director, Best Screenplay, FIPRESCI Award, and the Don Quijote Award.
- Screening Time: 6:30 pm, Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
THE VIRGIN AND CHILD
By Binevsa Berivan
Belgium | 2024 | 1h 20m
Avesta, a young Kurdish-Yazidi woman and ISIS survivor, winds up in Brussels to wreak vengeance upon the man who enslaved her. Between a struggle for justice that sees her revisit her darkest hours, and having to mother an unwelcome child, Avesta fights to be heard, whatever it takes.
Director’s biography
Born in Istanbul, Kurdish political refugee in Brussels, Binevsa Berivan chose cinema to speak about minorities, refugees and women. Her short films “La mélodie du Petit Château” and “Phone story” have won awards in several festivals. She also directed “Sidewalk” (selected in Clermont-Ferrand) and “Trace, le peuple du Paon” (broadcast on Arte). In 2018, “Guardians” received the Canal + award at the Cinémed in Montpellier.
- Screening Time: 3:00 pm, Oct 18
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
Short Selection
AGAINST FORGETTING
By Azad Azizyan
USA | 2024 | 22m
Past and present collide as four natives of northern Kurdistan fight to preserve their culture.
Director’s biography
He is a Kurdish-American documentary filmmaker who pushes the boundaries of the documentary genre to represent the experiences and emotions of its participants. His works involve collaborating with artists in all parts of Kurdistan and the diaspora to reflect on Kurdish memory and how it has been passed through oral history from one generation to the next. Additionally, he works with Kurdish film festivals worldwide to introduce Kurdish Cinema to non-Kurdish audiences.
- Screening Time: Sunday, 12:00 pm | Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
BEYOND THE ALLEYS
By Navid Zare
Rojhelat, Kurdistan | 2024 | 14m
Mardin finds himself in a critical situation and thinks of revenge.
Director’s biography
Navid Zare, born in 1995, is a Kurdish director, writer, and cinematographer with a Master’s Degree in Animation and a Bachelor’s degree in cinema.
- Screening Time: 4:30 pm, Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
EZDA
By Halime Akturk
Canada | 2024 | 15m
A Yazidi survivor of ISIS’s genocide recounts her experiences under nearly three years of captivity, and attempts to come to terms with her trauma while forging a new path for herself and her children in Canada.
Director’s biography
Halime Akturk is a Kurdish award-winning documentary filmmaker, producer, and journalist. Based between Toronto and Europe, she creates films that center untold stories of resilience, displacement, and identity, often through the lens of women and marginalized communities.
Her documentaries, often focused on women’s stories and questions of exile and identity, have screened internationally and received awards, including the Best Short Documentary award in Hamburg.
- Screening Time: 4:30 pm, Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
GODDESS
By Hadith Moradi & Parisa Abdollahi
Rojhelat, Kurdistan | 2025 | 23m
Set in Kurdistan of Iran, the story follows an age-old custom where villagers invoke “Safura Khatun,” the water goddess, through traditional ceremonies to ensure rainfall.
- Screening Time: 12:00 pm, Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
HABIBULLAH
By Adnan Zandi
Rojhelat, Kurdistan | 2024 | 28m
Habibullah Zandi has been singing for decades, but as a local mullah tries to silence his song, he proves that music and poetry can also be sacred.
Director’s Biography
Adnan zandi was born in Kurdistan at 1985. He is a Kurdish Iranian Writer and Director, he made 6 short films and participated and awarded in more than hundreds of film festivals, such as: beirut Film Festival, amsterdam kurdish Film Festival, sheffield docfest. he holds bachelor’s and Master’s degree of Cinema.
- Screening Time: 5:30 pm, Oct 18
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
HAND OF WIND
By Heydar Hojat
Rojhelat, Kurdistan | 2025 | 4m
A young man, while stopping briefly at a roadside stall, becomes irritated and frustrated by the stallholder’s annoying questions about his crooked and useless hand. But the stallholder may have his own reasons for asking.
Director’s Biography
Heydar Hojat is a director, cinematographer, and photographer whose work has been selected and awarded at national photo festivals. As a cinematographer, his credits include the short film The Pencil, which was selected at multiple national and international festivals. He also served as colorist for the short film A Film That Was Never Made, selected at the 41st Tehran International Short Film Festival.
- Screening Time: 12:00 pm, Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
HOME MADE
By Rojda Ezgi Oral
Bakur, Kurdistan | 2024 | 14m
In the 1980s Mardin, an Assyrian boy named Gabriel (11) studies under an authoritarian education system. For Domestic Goods Week, Gabriel and his friends bring homemade food and drinks. Their careful preparations, however, yield surprising results in the school’s oppressive atmosphere, where even minor mistakes are harshly punished.
Director’s Biography
Rojda Ezgi Oral graduated from Mardin Artuklu University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Radio, Television, and Cinema, and is currently pursuing her master’s degree at the same university. Her interest in cinema became professional when her script “Does Every Life Fit in Home?” was selected by the New Generation Cinema School. In 2022, she worked as an assistant director on the feature film “Bîraxane,” gaining valuable experience for her directing career. Between 2023 and 2024, she served as an assistant director on the documentary “Third Gurbet.” In 2024, she directed her first short film, “Xwemalî.” Oral continues to work in short film and documentary, exploring diverse narrative forms.
- Screening Time: 4:30 pm, Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
HOMO FUGE
By Mashallah Mohammadi
Rojhelat, Kurdistan | 2024 | 4m
A man sells everything to buy a good pair of shoes.
Director’s Biography
Mashallah Mohammadi, born in 1969 in Sanandaj, is a painter and animator who began his animation career in 2013. He has won over 10 international and 20 national awards for his animated works. Known for his expressive use of color and simple storytelling approach, Mohammadi often depicts Kurdish figures and themes in his art. He is a graduate of Tehran University of Art.
- Screening Time: 5:30 pm, Oct 18
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
KHALIL
By Seyed Payam Hosseini
Australia | 2024 | 20m
Khalil is a 13-year-old boy who lost his father. Khalil is worried whether his father will go to heaven or hell, He is trying to make sure of this.
Director’s Biography
Seyed Payam Hosseini, born in 1990 in Sanandaj, holds degrees in Architecture and Cinema and is currently pursuing an MA in Graphic Design. He is the CEO of Panah Film Company and has been making films since 2007. His short film The Kites received a Jury Mention at Berlinale 2020 in the Generation K Plus section. Specializing in children’s cinema, his films have been selected at prestigious international festivals including Berlinale, Cinekid, Giffoni, and ZLÍN. Beyond filmmaking, he promotes young filmmakers and supports children with cancer.
- Screening Time: 5:30 pm, Oct 18
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
MARKH
By Hossein Firooze
Rojhelat, Kurdistan | 2025 | 16m
Markh is the Kurdish name of a tree in Khorasan, Iran, some of which are more than two thousand years old. This tree cannot be propagated in greenhouse conditions and only reproduces in nature and in very difficult conditions, and if the conditions for the growth of the tree are provided, it grows only one centimeter per year. sheep grazing, fire and cutting of these old trees have put them in danger of extinction.
Director’s Biography
Hossein Firoozeis a Kurdish director from North Khorasan province, Iran. He is currently a master’s student in film studies and has worked for over ten years as an editor in local media. He has been actively directing films for nearly six years, focusing on independent Kurdish cinema. His filmography includes the series Standing in History (2018–2019), the TV film Moshtaqi and Mahjoori (2019), the short film The Apple Orchard (2021), 9 Hours with Hana (2022), Markh (2024), and Happy End (2025).
- Screening Time: 5:30 pm, Oct 18
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
MORÎ
By Yakup Tekintangaç
Bakur, Kurdistan | 2024 | 18m
The only memory left to Mori from her father is the audio recording of the story he told him. Mori listens to this tale from time to time. One day, a new teacher comes to school. When Mori sees the teacher, she thinks he is his father. Mori’s insistence on this issue turns into an emotional bond between her and her teacher.
Director’s Biography
Yakup Tekintangaç, who was born in Ağrı in 1980, generally focuses on the themes of childhood, identity and belonging with his short films. He received awards from many national and international festivals with his short film “Azad”. This movie also reached 1.5 million views on YouTube. His new short film, “Morî”, supported by the European Union’s Civil Thinking Programme, had its world premiere in the main competition section of the 70th International Oberhausen Short Film Festival, one of the most prestigious festivals in the world. Morî’s festival journey continues.
- Screening Time: Sunday, 12:00 pm | Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
MOTHER LOVE
By Numan Acar
Germany | 2024 | 20m
When Hazal receives a book from an old suitcase as a gift from her grandmother, it reveals a terrible truth about her family’s past and uncovers an old trauma suffered by her father.
Director’s Biography
Numan Acar is a German/Kurdish-Turkish actor and director whose work explores themes of identity and self-perception. His directorial credits include the short film Pure Random (2008), feature film Buried Voices (2014), and Mother Love (2025). Through his films, Acar examines how identity shapes both our self-understanding and our connections with others.
- Screening Time: Sunday, 5:30 pm | Oct 18
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
SALT SELLERS
By Maryam Samadi
Rojhelat, Kurdistan | 2023| 15m
A pregnant woman who lives by Lake Urmia and sells salt with her husband faces the risk of miscarriage due to salt storms caused by climate change and human factors. They plan to move to the city after selling their property, and until then, the woman tries to protect her unborn child from environmental dangers.
Director’s Biography
Maryam Samadi, born in 1988 in Urmia, began her directing career with the Young Journalists Club of Iran. She joined the Iranian Youth Cinema Association in 2012 and continued her cinema studies at Tehran University of Applied Sciences. Her notable works include Blue Kite (2011), Summer of Swans (2017), which won awards at domestic and international festivals, Karnika (2020), and Salt Sellers and a House Near the Sun (2023). Throughout her career, she has worked as director, script consultant, and set designer on various film projects.
- Screening Time: Sunday, 12:00 pm | Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
SON
By Saman Hosseinpuor
Rojhelat, Kurdistan | 2024 | 17m
In a village in Kurdistan, an old mother is waiting for her son to return from military service. After a long absence, the mother tries to find him, but she discovers a secret that puts her in a dilemma about dealing with her son’s identity.
Director’s Biography
Saman Hosseinpuor was born in Kurdistan,Iran in 1993. He has Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Cinema and is an Alumni of Berlinale Talents 2024 and Asian Film Academy 2023. He has made 11 short films and received more than 70 awards from international film festivals for his films. He is a member of Iranian Short Film Association.
- Screening Time: 4:30 pm, Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas
ZAAM
By Siavash Vaziri
Rojhelat, Kurdistan | 2023 |20m
Shoresh leads the family in absence of his departed dad and his elder mentally-ill brother. In spite of his younger sisters’ insistence to keep the sick brother in a mental asylum, he decides to take his brother home, which in turn makes the younger sisters plan to backfire, however, things do not go as planned.
Director’s Biography
Siavash Vaziri, born in Sanandaj, is a Kurdish film-maker from Iranian Kurdistan. As early as in his teens, he became a movie enthusiast watching John Ford’s “How Green My Valley Was”. At the age of 16, he joined the Iranian Young Cinema Society (IYCS) in Sanandaj, the same institute where Bahman Ghobadi, the well-known Kurdish film-maker, had started his cinematic activities, to study cinema and directing. Siavash has also studied English and is particularly interested in modern literary works and therefore, has done an extensive reading of 20th century literature. He has taken short-story and screenplay writing courses and has written several screenplays including “Zaam”, which he picked to direct as his first short film.
- Screening Time: 4:30 pm, Oct 19
- Venue: Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas