Rojava Film Festival continues, Egyptian lecturer denied entry to Syria

The fifth edition of the Rojava International Film Festival is ongoing in the city of Qamishlo, after it opened yesterday under the slogan “Shared Stories, Free Cinema,” at the Muhammad Sheikho Center for Culture and Art, organized by Rojava Film Commune and the Mesopotamia Movement for Democratic Culture and Art.

Essam Zakaria, the former director of the Cairo International Film Festival, had been scheduled to participate in a panel discussion titled “The Four Functions of the Art of Cinema,” but the Syrian transitional government barred him from entering Syria, leading to the cancellation of the seminar.

The first day featured the screening of the film Kobani, which documents the stories of resistance by male and female fighters during the 2014 battles against ISIS mercenaries. The film is directed by Özlem Yaşar, written by Media Doz, and produced by the Rojava Film Commune and the Culture and Art Movement in 2021. The film runs for two and a half hours, with scenes shot in the neighborhoods, villages, and roads of Kobani.

Screenings on the second day of the festival are scheduled as follows:

13:00 – 13:20: Mother – Short Film

13:45 – 14:00: Ezda – Documentary

16:00 – 17:00: Enough Enough – Short Film

17:30 – 18:00: Benchless – Short Film

18:30 – 18:50: Bottleneck – Short Film

19:00 – 19:15: Salt Sellers – Short Film

19:30 – 21:30: Ropewalker Memories – International Film

The festival’s activities are set to continue until the 20th of this month.

A-H 

ANHA