Slemani Film Festival Opens on October 1
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The 4th Slemani Film Festival will open in the province of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government on October 1-7, 2019.
The theme of the festival, which will show 120 films from 57 countries, is Earth Cancer with the aim of raising environmental and ecological awareness. The festival program will be announced in the days to come.
This year's festival will predominantly feature the films of Kurdish directors from Turkey. Journalist İlknur Bilir, the representative of the festival in Turkey, has pointed out "that this selection has quite important in developing cooperation and dialogue between Kurdish filmmakers who produce in Turkey and ones producing in Iraqi Kurdistan."
"It has to be underlined that the art has always played a role in dissolving and rendering boundaries dysfunctional, which is literally valid for the seventh branch of the art: cinema", Bilir has indicated further and emphasized that this kind of co-work and meeting opportunities enable Kurdish filmmakers to come together to think and produce in the near future, which has a crucial potential for the future of Kurdish Cinema
This year, the film (Sisters in Arms) directed by Caroline Fourest will be the opening film of the 4th Slemani International Film Festival.
Sisters in Arms
Last year, SlemaniFest also featured acclaimed films such as Jafar Panahi's Three Faces, winner of Best Screenplay at Cannes, 2018, Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters, 2019 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Malgorzata Szumowska's Mug, winner of the Jury Grand Prix, at Berlinale 2018, and Majid Majidi's Beyond the Clouds, Best Film Nominee at the 2017 London Film Festival, in its International Features Competition.
In this edition, three feature films will compete for the Golden Pine award. 10 more feature films in the same section will also compete for six more awards. These films are in the official competition for the Silver Pine award.
Another section of the festival presents a debate on international film foundations and commissions around the globe. The participants will be presenting seminars and debates on the creation of the first Kurdish film foundation in the region. (AÖ/SD)