This is the story of Kurdish women prisoners being held during the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein. Some are raped and tortured by soldiers and officers and some give birth while in prison. Many are either hurt or sold for commercial reasons to traffickers who force them to work in nightclubs in other Arab countries. After the toppling of the regime these women are freed and return home. Astera is one of them and she goes back to her village with the children she had as a result of rape. Winner of the special jury prize at the Calabria International Film Festival this is considered by some as first feminist feature length film of Kurdish cinema.

Cemal passes his university entrance exam and moves from his remote village to the bustle of Istanbul. Here, his experiences allow him to realize his own identity and he becomes involved with a Kurdish youth group. These young Kurdish people begin to dream of huge changes within the world around them. When the seeds of “revolution” appear, this youthful and dynamic energy turns into action.

Bilal, a young 17-year-old Kurdish boy has travelled across the Middle East and Europe to try and join his girlfriend; recently immigrated to England. His journey however comes to an abrupt end when French authorities stop him at the English Channel. He decides to swim across, and goes to the local swimming pool to begin training. There he meets Simon, a swimming instructor in the midst of a divorce. To impress his wife and win back her heart, Simon decides to risk everything by taking Bilal under his wing. Phillippe Lioret’s powerful film that reached over a million viewers in France evoked much anger from the French Government for its real and critical approach to France’s immigration policy.

This film won numerous awards at Cannes in 2009. It tells the story of an old man, Mam Baldar who for many years travelled between the mountainous villages in Kurdish Iraq, recording and delivering people’s messages. One day he gets a request from a high-ranking commander and his journey to a far-off valley begins.

A vast empty plain stretches out around the village of Zara in Kurdistan, interrupted only by the occasional abandoned homestead. Here wandering souls search for what they have lost: letters, childhoods, homes, friends, parents and children. During this search, memories and dreams gradually merge into an imagined present. In Zara, the Cem (a service of worship central to Alevis) is celebrated as a ceremonial presentation of the search for new hope. Ayten Mutlu Saray’s first feature is about the ways in which exiled people are forced to live with their fate, not only as an external state, but as an inner destiny.