ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Belgian-Kurdish film director Sahim Omar Kalifa’s Bad Hunter is among 10 movies shortlisted for next year’s Oscar awards in the short film category.
“My film and nine other movies will be competing for an Oscar next year in the category of best short films,” said the director, a Belgian national who was born in Iraqi Kurdistan.
“I take pride in the fact that all actors and the staff for this movie are from Dohuk and Zakho in Kurdistan, and that’s indeed an honor for Kurdish cinema,” Kalifa told Rudaw.
This is the second time one of Kalifa’s films has been nominated by the Academy of Motion Pictures for an Oscar.
Kalifa, who was born in 1980 and arrived in Belgium in 2001, said he was officially informed of the shortlist by the Academy of Motions Pictures on Thursday.
Bad Hunter and the other nine movies were among some 140 short films that had been competing for a place in the final shortlist.
The Kurdish director’s film revolves around Bahoz, a young hunter who witnesses the sexual assault on a woman and tries to help her.
The film, which has won several international awards, was also nominated also last year in the same category.
Kalifa has won 80 international awards with his short fllms, including at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival with Land of the Heroes.”
