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Sozdar, She Who Lives Her Promise
Director: Annegriet Wietsma
Holland / 2007 / 70mins / Kurdish (Kurmanji), Dutch and German with English subtitles
As a twelve year old girl she refused to be given in marriage. Thirty years later Nuriye Kesbir, one of the leaders of the PKK, the Kurdish resistance movement is still fighting. The documentary follows her remarkable journey beginning in a Dutch prison and ending in the rough mountains of Kurdistan.
Step
Director: Shevan Mustafa Faraj
South Kurdistan (Iraq) 2009 / 17mins / Kurdish (Sorani) with English subtitles
Step tells the story of a girl who grows up in a broken family in Kurdistan. Following her mother’s death, her father and her step-mother mistreat her and she eventually ends up in an orphanage where she battles not to be haunted by her past. After incredible struggles, she becomes an award-winning sportswoman and the manager of women’s prison in Sulaymania.
Tembur
Directors: Berooz Asrari and Mostafa Mahmoodi
East Kurdistan (Iran) / 2008 / 22 mins / No Dilaogue
This documentary is about making of the beautiful Kurdish musical instrument, Tembur (Tambureh) and the mastery of the musical instrument makers who produce them.
TRANSASIA
Director: Bingöl Elmas
Turkey / 2008 / 72 mins / English, Turkish and Persian with English Subtitle
Every week the TranAsia train carries passengers and their stories between two neighbouring countries: Turkey and Iran; the complete journey takes 3 days. It travels back and forth between these neighbours whose relationship revolves around an alliance but also enmity. The people of these two countries alienate each other despite their mutual values and mutual past. This film tells stories of TransAsia passengers along with their political feelings and the atmosphere that encompasses them all.
TRANSASIA EXPRESS
Directors: Manuel Uebersax and Özay Sahin
Switzerland / 2009 / 78 mins / English – Kurdish – Persian – Turkish with English subtitles
Hemo is a Kurdish musician from Dersim who lives in Istanbul who needs to take a train journey to Iran in order to fix his old Persian instrument (a santour) in Teheran and get new parts for it. His three-day journey via the TransAsia Express takes him through his homeland into the country of his beloved instrument, a country he has never seen before. TransAsia Express depicts the intriguing, entertaining and frequently contradictory reality of the railway that connects Istanbul and Tehran.
Turkey’s Hidden Shame
Director: Julia Rooke
UK / 2009 / 22mins / English and Turkish with English subtitles
Eren Keskin is a Kurdish human rights defender and lawyer and one of the few women daring to stand up to the country's powerful military and security forces. She represents women, many of them Kurdish, who've been raped and tortured in custody. This film is the story of her fight against sexual violence, police impunity and a justice system that's riddled with corruption and abuse with testimonies of the victims.


