Sulaimani’s week-long film festival concludes - Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Fifth Slemani International Film Festival concluded on Thursday with nearly 20 awards presented to filmmakers for excellence in acting, directing, and screenwriting, as a juror praised the artistic quality and thematic diversity of the competing films. Out of 250 participating films, 19 awards were distributed for best actor, director, screenplay, and other categories. Renowned Kurdish actress Maryam Boubani won Best Female Actor for her performance in Harsh Land and Distant Sky, which explores Kurdish identity, trauma, and loss.“It is a great pride for me. I am proud. This is the second award I have received in Kurdistan,” she told Rudaw, recalling the difficult filming conditions in cold and stormy weather. The film, directed by Hawraz Mohammed, won five awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Director, and Best Male and Female Actors. Mohammed said he hopes his team “will be [even] more successful in the future.”German-Kurdish filmmaker Ayse Polat took home two of the festival’s awards - Best Screenwriter and the Jury’s Special Award - for her film In the Blind Spot (2023).“I am very happy, very honored, really very honored to get this award,” Polat told Rudaw.On Monday, on the sidelines of the festival, Polat said her Kurdish roots play a central role in shaping her storytelling and urged greater financial support for Kurdish filmmakers, especially women.“My Kurdish roots are fundamental in shaping my stories because I carry all the stories from my parents, my grandparents - all the history of my ancestors is in me,” she said.“I found the film selection quite good, and it was really, really fun to watch - the diversity, especially, it was very diverse,” Swiss director Gitti Gruter, a jury member of the international documentary section, told Rudaw English after the award ceremony.

Gruter said she was particularly impressed by the high number of female directors, adding that “a few films really stood out” and made judging difficult. Gruter said the jury focused on how well a film’s “cinematic language goes along with the content that touches us,” explaining that they evaluated whether a film “gives us a deeper sense of the topic - if it touches us through sound, through cinematography.”The week-long festival, held under the theme “Kurdish Culture and Mother Tongue,” focused on the connection between cinema, cultural identity, and language. About 250 local and international guests, including prominent figures from Arab and global cinema, attended the opening ceremony. Four honorary awards were also presented on the opening day: the Ahmet Kaya Award to Turkish sociologist Ismail Beşikçi, the Taha Karimi Award to Mam Pola for her support of Kurdish cinema, the Martyr Parcham Award to actress Zhyan Ibrahim Khayat, and the Shkomandi Award to artist Bijan Kamkar. German director Betty Lerche, who served as a juror, told Rudaw that festivals like Sulaimani’s play a vital role in elevating Kurdish cinema. Festival director Fuad Jalal said this year’s edition “sheds light on the Kurdish language and the voice of the youth,” emphasizing its goal to strengthen “the link between cinema, cultural identity, and the preservation of national heritage.”Rudaw Media Network was the festival’s official media sponsor and screened 31 of its own documentaries outside the main competition, showcasing historical and human stories from Kurdistan and beyond.