Q and A with the filmmaker: Khalid Hamalaw
Free Admission, Refreshments served, Free Parking
New York Film Academy Showcasing Kurdish Cinema
The prestigious New York Film Academy will be screening seven Kurdish short films and documentaries for the first time. The event organized by Khalid Hamalow, is a 100-minute program of seven short films selected from a wide variety of films by promising and prominent Kurdish filmmakers. Almost all these films have been awarded local and international prizes. The films cover a wide range of genres from documentaries, narration to animation, from poetic to reflexive fiction. The plots, characters, aesthetic artistry of the films vary, but the narrative power and imagery of these short films will live on in the imagination of the audiences for years to come.
White Mountain
Written and directed by Taha Karimi. 30 minutes. This short poetic film is about Faqi Ibrahim, an old man “who is looking for some one to tell his story” about heroic struggle against the enemy and the tragedy of a civil war against the astounding beauty of the majestic mountain, Qandil, near the borders of three countries: Iran, Iraq and Turkey. The old man who had witnessed the formation of the first Kurdish political party in his youth, has now along with his black horse turned into pallbearers. The old man in dismay relates the horrors of the fratricide represented by countless pebbles he collects to keep track of those including his son who have fallen; the internal conflict has created hostile sides and distrust among the living who desperately try to find the unmarked graves of their loved ones. Faqi Ibrahim meditates on his poetic longing for the beauty of the garden and a utopian, imagined society in which he will find a listening ear for his story.
Ants’ Apartment
Written and directed by Tofigh Amani. 10 minutes. This is a story of a family of three who lived in an apartment happily. It is the story of a boundless love between a young man and a woman as we hear their whispers in the middle of a desert in Iraq populated by ants; the loves’ affable and erotic whispers arising beyond the grave are punctured by the cries of their child and lurking fear as the ghastly tragedy of their lives as victims of “Infal” genocide is uncovered by forensic anthropologists in 2014.
Mrs. Misfortune
Written and directed by Khalid Hamalaw. 14 minutes. The film chronicles the everyday heroism and hardships of four Kurdish widows, two of whom are from Iranian and two from Iraqi Kurdistan as they try to eke out an existence by carrying heavy loads on foot as porters across the Iran-Iraq border.
74- Shangal
Written and directed by Chamani Gull. 28-minute documentary. An Izadi (Yazidi) girl kidnapped and held captive as a sex slave recounts the trauma and terrifying experiences she and others had suffered after the Islamic State waged a macabre and murderous campaign of death, destruction, and bondage against her people in their historical homeland in 2014.
Bad Hunter
Written and directed by Sahim Omar Khalifa. 13 minutes. A young hunter comes upon a rape scene; the perpetrator is chased away. Bahoz, the hunter helps the young woman conceal the rape as it would be considered an unforgivable sin and affront to the honor of her family in the culture of patriarchy.
The Abandoned Faces
Written and directed by Ashkan Ahmedi. 14 minutes. This short fiction follows a group of mysterious and faceless men who are in the business of trafficking and transplanting the faces of those who have recently died or are about to die, with those who want to assume a new identity to continue living “normal” lives.
Human Beings
Written and directed by Mashallha Muhammadi. 1: 00 minute. This animated super short film captures the diversity of humanity and their choices as some give in to adversity while others resist the trials and tribulations of their lives, leaving behind a legacy, a story to remember.
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