Kurdish Lover

The Kurdish lover is Oktay, a man of Kurdish origin with whom I share my life. We have been drifting through a devastated region brought to a standstill by war and economic misery. How do people manage to co-exist in this place? This is the question posed by the film.
Here we live in close proximity to one another, in a tightly woven network of geographical and social ties. Loving someone can become confused with having a hold over them. It is with an often black humour that the characters featured in this film find ways, within their community, to affirm that they truly exist.
A shaman goes into trance in front of the television, sex-starved hermit dreams of marriage, a ewe is sacrificed and eaten, an old woman prevents her daughter-in-law from learning to read, a shepherdess lives at the top of the mountain and would like to return to the valley, the military watch over the village, a man who came from Europe goes off to request the hand in marriage of a young girl living with her mother.
It is through these situations that we discover the reality of families doing what they can to find a way of living together, to take the best – or the worst – from each moment.

AWARDS

Grand Prix, CLERMONT-FERRAND Traces de Vies
Prix du Film Français, BELFORT Festival International du film
Prix du Public documentaire, BELFORT Festival International du film
Best Film, BELO HORIZONTE Forumdoc, Brésil
Special Jury Award, RIO DE JANEIRO Women’s International Film festival

FESTIVALS & PROJECTIONS

MONTREAL Festival des films du Monde, 1ère mondiale, 2010
CLERMONT-FERRAND Traces de Vies, France
MONTREUIL Rencontres du Cinéma Documentaire, France
LJUBLJANA Independent Documentary Film Festival, Slovénia
BELO HORIZONTE Forumdoc, Brazil
BELFORT Entrevues Festival International du film, France
OUIDAH Quintessence, Festival International du Film, Bénin
BERGAME Film Meeting, Italy
FLORENCE Film Middle East Now, Italy
PARIS Cinéma du Réel, France
LONDON International Documentary Festival, UK
LASALLE Festival de films documentaires, France
LONDON Open City Documentary Film Festival, UK
RIO DE JANEIRO Femina, International Women’s Film Festival, Brazil
BELGRADE International Festival of Ethnological Film, Serbia
PERM Flahertiana International Documentary Film Festival, Russia
ROVERTO International Festival of Archaeological Film, Italy