Search Results for "kurds"

In the 1990s, fearing persecution from the Turkish government, about 2,000 Kurdish refugees of Turkish nationality came to settle in a suburb of Tokyo. Here live Ohzan (18), Ramazan (19) and Memet (38). This documentary focuses on these three young Kurds in Japan.

In Syria, the new government that overthrew Bashar al-Assad's regime on 8 December 2024 has just signed a historic agreement with the Kurds in the north-east of the country. In the heart of a country ravaged by more than 13 years of civil war, this autonomous administration of Syrian Kurdistan could well be integrated into a country that is in need of reconstruction and whose unity remains fragile. But in the north, the war has not stopped. A few kilometres away, neighbouring Turkey has been stepping up its attacks on Rojava for years, while militia abuses persist and the threat of Islamic State continues to loom. From Kobane to Raqqa via the Al-Hol prison camp... For this new long-form feature, Blast took to the roads of northern Syria in January 2025.

What will happen next in northern Syria? All of the parties to the conflict - the Americans, Assad’s regime, Russia, Iran and Turkey - have their own agendas for the war-torn region. But what do the Kurds themselves think about their future?

Sadegh and his wife manage a tea house in the way between Ahvaz and Andimeshk south of Iran. One night in his absence a friend of him who is a truck driver comes to his place and the wife is getting killed. The police are after the murderer but Sadegh who seeks revenge begins to kill the truck drivers on the way. This put him in fronting the law.

After dealing with the Shut in the Balkans, Kara Ben-Nemsi ('Karl the German') receives a firman (precious passport) from the padishah (Ottoman sultan) before he continues his travels through Kurdistan. Achmed El Corda, the son of Halef's Hadedhin Beduin tribe's sheik Mohammed Emin, has been captured by the machredsh (Turkish governor) of Mossul for resisting water seizure by his Turkish troops. Kara takes charge of the rescue.

Journalist Kevin McKiernan's powerful film takes a close look at the Kurds, compelling and controversial subjects whose identities seem to shift depending on the loyalties of those viewing them. To some, they are heroes fighting to rebuild war-torn Iraq; to others, they are terrorists to be feared and loathed. What is the truth, and where do the answers lie? This provocative study earned Best Documentary honors at numerous film festivals.

Kurdistan, partitioned between Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, could play a major role in a torn Middle East. But who are the Kurds? What influence do they have? Who exactly is Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party? An enlightening investigation by Luis Miranda.

It is difficult to get refugee status in Japan. In 2016, the number of recognized as refugees were 28 out of 10,901. Their situation is hopeless. For the past 20 years, Turkish Kurds have been fleeing from prejudice and persecution and coming to the Tokyo area, where they now number about 1,500. Among them is 18-year-old Ozan, who first came to Tokyo as a child. Living in Japan with his family as an ‘illegally alien’ rather than an officially recognized refugee, Ozan has been forced to work illegally, and today he doses demolition work on buildings and homes. This film portrays one summer in Ozan’ s life as he begins work that hopes will fulfill his secret dreams while struggling with a sense of alienation from Japanese society.

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Democratic, pro-Western Iraqi Kurds are forward thinking, sensitive to women's rights, effective in the fight against ISIS and an important role in the 2 Gulf Wars. They stand on the threshold of an independent state and are a vital component in the establishment of long-term peace in the region.

The Kazankirans, a Kurdish family from Turkey, came to Japan seeking asylum, but the Japanese government would not grant them official refugee status. In desperation, the family stages a sit-in demonstration in front of the United Nations University. The Kazankirans' spirited fight motivates film student Masaru Nomoto to drop out of school in order to document their story. However, contrary to the principle of non-refoulement, the father and eldest son of the family get deported in 2005. Unable to continue being a passive observer, the then 21-year-old director follows them to Turkey, where he engages with locals and discovers new perspectives about the Kurdish people and identity.

An illegal immigrant is reminded of his origin by the melodies of an instrument of his birthplace Bumiyan, Afganistan. However, the musician playing the instrument claims that the melodies aren't from Bumiyan, but from Kurdistan. But where is Kurdistan?

Documentary about the murder of three Kurdish women activists in Paris in 2013 and the investigations against an agent of the Turkish intelligence service MIT.

An impassioned documentary on the resistance of the largest population in the world without a state. Their identity perennially denied, told through dramatic unreleased footage filmed by a Kurdish journalist during the siege of Cizre in the Kurdistan that was yet never born

The Front Lines of Kurdistan is a TV documentary about the modern history of the Kurds, an oppressed and besieged people attempting to create an independent state on the ruins of Middle East. The Kurds are the largest ethnic group without one; Kurdish-inhabited areas reach into Iran, Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. The documentary takes us to the battle lines between Kurdish forces and the Islamic State in Kirkuk and the Sinjar Mountains (Iraq), and Kobani (Syria). In December 2014 and January 2015, Erik Valenčič made it to the front lines of the fierce offensives and interviewed key figures in the struggle for an independent Kurdistan.

A trip back to the own roots, into the troubled country of Kurdistan.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, a region that has not yet been explored, a formidable archaeological adventure is taking place where scientific knowledge is the answer to oblivion.

Documentary on the Turkish invasion of Afrin in Northern Syria in 2018.

Dunia is a 17-year-old girl. After her uncle raped her, she becomes pregnant and seeks help in one of the shelters in the Kurdistan region of Iraq/Sulaimani and secretly plans to have an abortion.

Akif left Germany to join up with the PKK guerrilla fighters. His diary records the doubts, dreams and political discussions that the fighters share as they march through the mountains, and in the meetings where the women criticize male prejudices.

Fatma and her mother are Kurdish refugees living in Italy. One day at the hospital, Fatma learns her mother has breast cancer.

A priceless tablet of Gilgamesh, the oldest and most important work of literature is stolen from a museum. A security guard vows to do whatever it takes to get it back from a group of smugglers. Along the way, he faces his own inner demons.

Through a series of vignettes from the ancient and war-torn Levant, WILD IS THE SPRING captures moments in the lives of diverse ethnic communities who struggle to survive when life descends into chaos.

After their parents are murdered, two young Kurdish children are forced to live on the street

The Kurdish Iraqi poet and actor Zeravan Khalil travels with his dog through an Alpine gorge after fleeing from IS war and genocide. As he remembers the abomination, he writes a poem with the title “You drive me mad” in Kurmanji Kurdish. In his home country, Yazidic Kurds are forbidden to work in his profession. Then he eats his apple and wanders through Europe’s middle with more hope.

Wali, an ex-sniper, leaves Canada to fight the Islamic state. He meets two Americans: Rebaz and Zyrian. One is a veteran of the war in Iraq. The other is a homosexual idealist. They meet the Kurds, a welcoming people. Together, they will confront the fanatical Islamic terrorists. Beside Heroes, an uncensored documentary that tells the tale of three volunteer fighters who realized that to change the world, you have to act.

Qader, a bricklayer from Sardasht in Kurdistan Iran whose wife is pregnant with her 4th child, suddenly found himself amid a war crime perpetrated by the Saddam regime. On June 28th, 1987 Iraqi air fighters dropped mustard gas bombs on the city...

In the 1990s many people in Kurdistan were taken into custody and interrogated under torture; their killers disposed of the bodies by throwing them out of helicopters, or burying them in acid-filled wells. Thousands were murdered/disappeared by paramilitary forces—such as Jitem and Hizbul-Kontra—that were financed and supported by the state, though they have always stuck to the line: “We didn’t do it.” The documentary looks at the case of seven people, including four children, who were disappeared from the town of Kerboran [Dargeçit] in 1995, and tells the story of their families’ tireless search for their bones

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Sivan Encü, a young Kurdish man, provided for his family by "smuggling" through the Turkish-Iraqi border. When he was murdered in the 2011 Robozik (Roboski) Massacre, the responsibility of family's welfare was taken over by his younger brother Sinan, who lost his life in an unfortunate accident. This is the story of their grief-stricken mother Heyam and her resilience. Alongside Heyam's struggle, the film brings the voices of Robozik elders and notables to the forefront, who have experienced first-hand the social, political and economic dimensions of smuggling, which has been the backbone of survival for the locals for many generations.

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Danish-Arabian Yusif arrives in the mythical Middle Eastern city of Medina with his pregnant wife Sarah, and is falsely accused of killing a street boy, brutalized in prison, and stripped of everything he held dear. After escaping, he embarks on a journey through Medina’s darkest corners in a desperate bid to return to Denmark, though he may never find his way home.

Mohammed El Kurd is a Palestinian boy growing up in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in the heart of East Jerusalem. When Mohammed turns 11, his family is forced to give up part of their home to Israeli settlers, who are leading a campaign of court-sanctioned evictions to guarantee Jewish control of the area. Shortly after their displacement, Mohammed’s family and other residents begin peacefully protesting against the evictions, determined not to lose their homes for good. In a surprising turn, they are quickly joined by scores of Israeli supporters who are horrified to see what is being done in their name. Among them is Jewish West Jerusalem resident Zvi Benninga and his sister Sara, who develop a strong relationship with Mohammed and his family as they take on a leading role in organizing the protests.

When Yehia's scientific investigation of the paranormal yields nothing, he takes a forced vacation from his work and regular life. Wandering aimlessly, he settles in a seaside guest house that is inhabited by a group of quirky characters. As Yehia grows intimate with the owner and close to her charismatic young daughter, he believes he's stumbled across the magic he had sought for so long. It appears that something out of the ordinary seems to exist within them all, and perhaps also within himself.

Journeying through the symbolic landscape of the subconscious mind, the story follows an unbreakable bond between father and son. A bond that transcends space and time.

Helen was abducted as a child and kept in a basement for eight years. As a young adult, she invites a television crew to document her recovery, which threatens the fragile emotional balance between herself and her estranged mother.

The story follows the life of Katyusha and is based upon the legend of Baba Yaga, a ferocious old lady with magical powers.

A drama centered on an orphaned Palestinian girl growing up in the wake of the first Arab-Israeli war who finds herself drawn into the conflict.

In early-1980s Portsmouth, the Calvario family is reigning over the crime-ridden city. After a long-desired promotion, Russ must hope that luck is on his side in dealing with his new responsibilities, his ex-wife, and a loose cannon partner.

In a war-torn Middle Eastern city where music has been banned by Islamic extremists, Karim, a brilliant musician, struggles to rebuild his destroyed piano while trying to escape to Europe.

Elephants Dream is the story of two strange characters exploring a capricious and seemingly infinite machine. The elder, Proog, acts as a tour-guide and protector, happily showing off the sights and dangers of the machine to his initially curious but increasingly skeptical protege Emo. As their journey unfolds we discover signs that the machine is not all Proog thinks it is, and his guiding takes on a more desperate aspect. Elephants Dream is a story about communication and fiction, made purposefully open-ended as the world’s first 3D animated “Open movie”. The film itself is released under the Creative Commons license, along with the entirety of the production files used to make it (roughly 7 Gigabytes of data). The software used to make the movie is the free/open source animation suite Blender along with other open source software, thus allowing the movie to be remade, remixed and re-purposed with only a computer and the data on the DVD or download.

In his unfortunate situation, living in poverty, and being belittled by others, Jantra promised his son Amar to buy a new house in a residential area near his village. After his divorce from Lastri, he still couldn't give up his bad habit of supernatural-lottery gambling (Togel). Even Jantra became increasingly obsessed.

During the 30 years of the Baath ruling under Sadam in Iraq thousands of Iraqi Kurds and Shiites were either killed or disappeared. Around 182,000 people lost their lives when 4500 villages and townships were destroyed in Kirkuk, Soleimanieh, Dahouk and Erbil regions with the aim to exterminate the Kurds and to arabize Kurdistan. Having found one of the mass graves after 24 years in the southern deserts of Iraq, became the basis of a movie describing the living conditions of these villages inhabited by mostly mothers, daughters, wives or sisters of those victims.

An apple juice producer can't decide between his wife and his secretary and tries to commit suicide. Being committed to psychiatry, he falls asleep and dreams of adventures as Adam and Eve in heaven and hell.

A dialogue-free film about an execution described in two scenes.

Mr. Holybar (the local chocolate bar priest) makes a late visit to Lolli's home. Her daughter Twizzly, is usually such a sweet girl, but lately, has been acting healthy.

Ivan Mirosnikov, a cheeky young man in the Gorbachev era, is trying to figure out what to do with his life (he's not in college, and the 2-year mandatory military service is looming large ahead of him). Meanwhile, he lives with his divorced mother, and works as a courier at a Russian newspaper. Through his job, he meets patronizing Professor Kuznetzov and his rebellious daughter Katya. To annoy the professor, Ivan claims to have an affair with Katya. To his surprise, Katya backs his story up.

In the wealthy noble family of Popelsky, the only son Petrik is blind from birth. His mother Anna Mikhailovna, infinitely loving and pitying the boy, educates him as a rare fragile flower. And only Uncle Maxim, who fought under the banner of Garibaldi in his youth, is trying to accustom the boy to independence. The boy begins to recognize the world by touch, and one day his fingers find the keys of a piano. But, still not knowing the price of his talent, he leaves with the tramps "to seek the truth." And now only love can reconcile him with the world of the sighted.

The astonishing story of a gay Puerto Rican kid growing up in a Hasidic Brooklyn neighborhood, who got on the subway one day and began a musical odyssey that helped shape the musical landscape across N.Y.C. and around the world. Directed by Drew Stone and produced by Michael Alex the film tells the incredible story of a cherished New York City icon. From rubbing elbows with N. Y. scene makers as an teenager at Max's Kansas City and CBGB, to being the architect of a rock 'n' roll renaissance as the 19 year-old talent booker at the legendary Ritz, to making history as a 24 year-old A&R exec, signing the biggest metal band in a generation in Metallica, Michael Alago was on fire.

Single is not a theoretical treatise; it just uses clips to show how a single is produced. The song is Time to Love, the singers call themselves Witchcraft. Also involved are the composer, arranger, producer, the studio musicians and later on the strings. At the beginning the off camera narrator points out a scandalous discrepancy. The film crew spent two days in the recording studio observing a three minute piece of music being produced. The film itself condenses the duration of production: 15 minutes into the film, the narrator announces that the producers are satisfied with the basic backing-track, after a four hour test. After 24 minutes we learn that the crew has left the studio after nine hours filming, whilst work on the guitar tracks continued for some hours.

As part of the "continuation" of the "cut" made by Sollers-Pollet's "Mediterranean", Scopie therefore stems from a materialist practice of cinema, made here and now (among others within the whole eclectic named "Collectif Jeune Cinéma") more necessary than ever. Disappointing any phantasmal projection, the screen-support of what is woven, but also exceeded by it, its positive trace is proposed as a place where the perpetual, regulated circulation, between sound and image, inexorably disappoints the constitution of a full meaning, in which the subject-spectator could be comforted. (CJC)

The film follows a person who is accused of failure by everyone he knows, whether from his family members or those close to him until he decides to become a wrestler and try to make his way toward professionalism.