FOCUS COUNTRY: AFGHANISTAN

AFGHANISTAN’S CINEMA IS THE FUCOS COUNTRY AT DUHOK IFF 2021

The 8th Duhok International Film Festival is glad to announce Afghanistan to be this year’s focus country. The focus country program presents a diverse selection of classics and contemporary cinema of Afghan filmmaking and international films about Afghanistan. Including local, diasporic and international voices, the panorama will reflect on social, political, and artistic matters, connecting past and presence.

As a highlight, Director Siddiq Barmak from Afghanistan, nowadays living in exile in Paris, will present his acclaimed film OSAMA (Afghanistan/Netherlands/Japan/Ireland/Iran 2004, Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film). Another film classic highlight of the program is KANDAHAR by Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Iran/France 2001, Fiction, Competition Cannes).

Shawkat Amin Korki (Artistic Director): “In these difficult times, it is more than important for us to invite Afghan filmmakers to Duhok, to exchange and show solidarity.”
Mehmet Aktas (Head of International Program): “Reality shapes cinema. Just as for Kurdish Cinema from Yilmaz Güney until today, the themes of exile, refugee, and censorship have been a huge part of Afghan filmmaking ever since. It is of great importance to us to focus on the Afghan film landscape, to encounter and share the experience.”