Universal tale of love, honour in Kurdish village subject of Hollywood film
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The dreams of a young boy growing up in a village in Kurdistan and idolizing his Peshmerga family will be the subject of a Hollywood movie to be filmed here later this year.
It’s a “universal story,” producer Gabrielle Allen told Rudaw.
“Yes it takes place in Kurdistan, but… for me it’s a love story. It’s a love story about honour, about courage, about camaraderie, and about loyalty, and about how do we actually confront and handle the obstacles that we’re all faced in life,” she explained.
The film, to be titled A True Desert Rose, comes from writer and director Karzan Kader.
Kader and his family fled the Kurdistan Region in 1990, when he was nine-years-old, and settled in Sweden. His 2010 short film Bekas won a Student Oscar.
“The film is about a 12-year-old boy in a small village. The biggest dream of that boy is becoming a Peshmerga. His grandfather, father, and older brother were Peshmerga,” Kader said of his protagonist.
“The boy’s life is turned upside down in an afternoon in the village. He will have to make the biggest decision in his life about how to rescue the people of his village from a great problem.”
The film, being produced by Allen’s Hollywood-based Media Farm, will begin pre-production this summer.
“Also it’s going to be very good for the local Kurdistan film commission and film production community. We hope to use this film to spearhead really boosting the production here in this economy,” said Allen.
With reporting from Shaho Amin.
It’s a “universal story,” producer Gabrielle Allen told Rudaw.
“Yes it takes place in Kurdistan, but… for me it’s a love story. It’s a love story about honour, about courage, about camaraderie, and about loyalty, and about how do we actually confront and handle the obstacles that we’re all faced in life,” she explained.
The film, to be titled A True Desert Rose, comes from writer and director Karzan Kader.
Kader and his family fled the Kurdistan Region in 1990, when he was nine-years-old, and settled in Sweden. His 2010 short film Bekas won a Student Oscar.
“The film is about a 12-year-old boy in a small village. The biggest dream of that boy is becoming a Peshmerga. His grandfather, father, and older brother were Peshmerga,” Kader said of his protagonist.
“The boy’s life is turned upside down in an afternoon in the village. He will have to make the biggest decision in his life about how to rescue the people of his village from a great problem.”
The film, being produced by Allen’s Hollywood-based Media Farm, will begin pre-production this summer.
“Also it’s going to be very good for the local Kurdistan film commission and film production community. We hope to use this film to spearhead really boosting the production here in this economy,” said Allen.
With reporting from Shaho Amin.