Kurdish cinema needs support if it’s ever to reach Cannes
Word is that this year’s Cannes film festival, which is dubbed as the Olympics of Cinema and is in a country that invented the art of motion pictures, is packed with political movies about daily life and individuals who battle against adversity. Festival director Thierry Fremaux asserts "The festival isn't political, it is the artists who are."
Interestingly, the festival opened with cult filmmaker Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die, a horror film about the dead rising from the grave and feasting on the living. Could there be a connection to the savagery of the Islamic State (ISIS) of the past five years who may have also risen from the graves?
Speaking of ISIS macabre, I predict a string of films in the coming years with one or two popping up in every major festival. It will be a blessing if our poor Kurdish filmmakers, with next to zero support, will somehow have their share of such a contribution.
So far, the ‘Kurds battling ISIS’ presence at Cannes has come from non-Kurds. They have come from France’s Bernard-Henri Levy’s Peshmerga documentary shot in 2018 (which was supported by Kurdistan) and France’s Eva Hossun’s Girls of the Sun about a battalion of women in Rojava (northern Syria) fighting against ISIS jihadists who had overtaken their small Kurdish town.
While Levy’s documentary depicts the Peshmerga in the battlefield living up to their reputation as courageous defenders of their land, the narrative of Hossun’s action flick doesn’t live up to the realities on the ground. There is not a word about the Yezidi crisis and the dialect spoken in the film isn’t from the Rojava region.
Imagine how the French would feel if one of their flicks set in the heart of Paris was made with a Cajun tongue from the depths of Mississippi, or, if the characters of Dixieland assumed a Scottish brogue. One may argue the film will be subtitled anyway, but that is only a half-brewed argument.
Such folly is due to the absence of expert or homegrown advice. As logic would dictate, if one had to make a film about Tibet, one should consult a Tibetan.
Here, I make a detour to the subject of Kurdish institutions, media, and the private sector neglecting Kurdish filmmakers. If this trend continues, Kurdish-produced cinema will never reach the screens of Cannes, or any other international festival.
The festival’s jury is headed by Mexican maestro Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu of Birdman and The Revenant fame. The festival began on May 14th and runs until the 25th.
Interestingly, the festival opened with cult filmmaker Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die, a horror film about the dead rising from the grave and feasting on the living. Could there be a connection to the savagery of the Islamic State (ISIS) of the past five years who may have also risen from the graves?
Speaking of ISIS macabre, I predict a string of films in the coming years with one or two popping up in every major festival. It will be a blessing if our poor Kurdish filmmakers, with next to zero support, will somehow have their share of such a contribution.
So far, the ‘Kurds battling ISIS’ presence at Cannes has come from non-Kurds. They have come from France’s Bernard-Henri Levy’s Peshmerga documentary shot in 2018 (which was supported by Kurdistan) and France’s Eva Hossun’s Girls of the Sun about a battalion of women in Rojava (northern Syria) fighting against ISIS jihadists who had overtaken their small Kurdish town.
While Levy’s documentary depicts the Peshmerga in the battlefield living up to their reputation as courageous defenders of their land, the narrative of Hossun’s action flick doesn’t live up to the realities on the ground. There is not a word about the Yezidi crisis and the dialect spoken in the film isn’t from the Rojava region.
Imagine how the French would feel if one of their flicks set in the heart of Paris was made with a Cajun tongue from the depths of Mississippi, or, if the characters of Dixieland assumed a Scottish brogue. One may argue the film will be subtitled anyway, but that is only a half-brewed argument.
Such folly is due to the absence of expert or homegrown advice. As logic would dictate, if one had to make a film about Tibet, one should consult a Tibetan.
Here, I make a detour to the subject of Kurdish institutions, media, and the private sector neglecting Kurdish filmmakers. If this trend continues, Kurdish-produced cinema will never reach the screens of Cannes, or any other international festival.
The festival’s jury is headed by Mexican maestro Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu of Birdman and The Revenant fame. The festival began on May 14th and runs until the 25th.
Jano Rosebiani is an American-Kurdish scriptwriter, director, producer, and editor associated with Kurdish New Wave cinema.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.