Welcome to the 13th London Kurdish Film Festival!

Welcome to the 13th London Kurdish Film Festival!
Celebrating its 13th edition, the London Kurdish Film Festival (LKFF) is delighted to return to Big Screens!
Faced with the global challenges, LKFF managed to persevere and successfully delivered the 12th edition as Global Kurdish Film Festival streaming 129 films over VOD platform, completely free of charge. With the support of partners such as British Film Industry, Shift72, Sponsors, 10 Kurdish Film Festivals and all Volunteers, the Global Edition has reached over 160k audience and gained 13k active users.

We pride ourselves on being the first Kurdish Film Festival that brings together the largest selection of films from four parts of Kurdistan and the world. Started in 2001, LKFF has grown to become the biggest exhibition of Kurdish films, showcasing films from all four parts of Kurdistan and the rest of the world to film audiences in London. A non-profit charity organisation, LKFF has come a long way since its inception, leaving behind twelve successful film festivals, growing in both magnitude and significance. At LKFF, we believe cinema is a powerful and influential form of artistic expression and one which carries great importance for Kurds, who have, like all oppressed nations, transferred cinema into a tool for emancipation and self-expression. The continuing rise in Kurdish film production has meant that this year there are more films covering critical topics and telling ever more compelling stories, which are to a higher quality, than ever before. This is reflected in the awards and recognition Kurdish cinema is now receiving worldwide.

For this upcoming 13th edition, LKFF will be presenting a pre-selected Film Programme in three venues; VUE in Woodgreen, Rio in Dalston and Prince Charles in Leicester Square. This year we have worked hard to bring film audiences a rich and diverse festival programme with 31 films, comprising 15 feature fictions and 16 shorts films. For our opening gala film this year, we are honoured to premiere Cîran (Neighbours), a feature fiction film by multi-award winning director Mano Khalil, joining us with Q&A.Cîran was inspired by Mano’s bitter-sweet memories of childhood, depicting moments between dictatorship and dark drama, connecting us with Syrian tragedy. For our closing ceremony, we are delighted to premier Imad’s Childhood, a feature documentary about a yazidi child who is released from ISIS captivity after two and half years, full of hatred and anger towards his own culture. The film directed by Zahavi Sanjavi who wanted to show how a human being turns into a murderous and bloodthirsty machine.

Prominent films from our lineup include Four Walls by Bahman Ghobadi , Dance of Ali and Zin by Mehmet Ali Konar, The Exam by Shawkat Amin Korki, Zeo Nine by Baxtyar Fatah, Zalava by Arsalan Amiri, Brother’s Keeper by Ferit Karahan and Blackberry Season by Hasim Aydemir.

One of the core aims of the London Kurdish Film festival in recent years has been to support and promote documentary filmmakers who are making a contribution to the world through enlightening and entertaining documentaries which not only broaden our understanding of shared human experiences, but also cultivate an informed, compassionate, and connected world. For this reason we are thrilled to bring you documentary screenings with strong narratives, in particular, Heza by Deria Deniz, The Other side of the River by Antonia Kilian, Heskif by Elif Yiğit, Village (Gund) by Serpil Turhan, Sinjar by Anna M. Bofarull.

In addition to documentary films, short films equally have a special place for LKFF. This edition will feature an excellent programme of shorts which will be screened before the feature films, including the ten short films selected for the 9th Yılmaz Güney Short Film Competition.

Following his creativity and hard working character, LKFF will be remembering our former Director Mehmet Aksoy, who played an integral role in the development of LKFF for many years, on the 27th September at Rio Cinema. Join us to celebrate Memo’s story!

Continuing with our standing tradition of Film Awards, the official LKFF panel of juries will be deliberating on following categories;

· ROJAZER Best Feature Fiction Film
· Mehmet Aksoy Best Feature Documentary Film
· Yılmaz Güney Best Short Fiction Film
· Taha Karimi Best Short Documentary Film
· LKFF Honorary Film Award
· Best Actress
· Best Actor

Finally, we would like to thank all of our volunteers, jury members, festival representatives, sponsors and partners whose valuable contribution, hard work and dedication have made this festival possible with a special thank you to all the filmmakers who have entrusted us with their work.

‘Films in search of Hope’

London Kurdish Film Festival Management Committee