DOHUK, Kurdistan Region - The 8th Duhok International Film Festival has reached its final day, after a week of showcasing a total of 93 local and international films in the Kurdistan Region.
On top of the 44 Kurdish films presented to attendees of the festival, 49 films from 30 different countries were shown.
Indeed, the one-week festival featured eight Afghan films in the guest category.
Afghan cinema began to resurge in 2001 after the Taliban fell. However, the re-establishment of the Taliban in the country this year is threatening to destroy the cinema industry in Afghanistan once again, alongside catastrophic economic and social collapse leading to “worsening food insecurity”, Human Rights Watch warned last week.
Amir Ali, president of the Duhok International Film Festival, told Rudaw on Tuesday that, “Afghanistan and Kurdistan share common similarities.”
“In looking at the Afghan nation, we see they have suffered the same hardships as the Kurds. We’ve shown films from Afghanistan today to show everyone what will happen to Afghan cinema once a new ruling power is in place,” Ali said.
The famous Afghan film director Siddiq Barmak attended the festival. During a panel organized for him on Saturday, he said that he was not optimistic about the future of Afghan cinema.
“Afghan cinema will not be able to express itself during a period of Taliban rule, whether it is long or short. Unfortunately, no films will be made,” Barmak told Rudaw.
Barak participated in the festival by screening Osama, a movie he directed in 2003, which portrays the hardships that the Afghan people endured under the Taliban; a crisis that we are seeing repeated.
The first film produced after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 follows a teenage girl living in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime. She disguises herself as a boy, Osama, to support her family.
According Barmak, “My film is a warning to the entire world. Its story is our story as well. This is a call for all sleeping consciences in the world who, perhaps in their own interests, are turning a blind eye on these issues.”
The festival also screened other films about the conditions of women in Afghanistan. Not all Afghan film directors were able to attend the festival due to the current situation in their country.
Translation and editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
