Fifth Kurdish Film Festival begins in Cologne
NEWS CENTER (DİHA) - The Fifth Kurdish Film Days festival organised by the Students Union of Kurdistan (YXK) began in Cologne with a showing of "The Beekeeper" a documentary film directed by Mano Khalil, from Rojava, who lives in Switzerland.
The film festival continued with "Blue Van" by Ömer Leventoğlu. Other films by Kurdish directors to be shown at the Ludwig Film Museum include "Qerîn","Denke Derî", "Salpa", "Faili Devlet", "Asya" and "Hêvî". Delal Coşkun and Sema Kocatepe, from the organising committee of the Film Festival, said that they wanted Kurdish films to be seen by Europeans and by Kurds living in Europe.
'Our aim is to gain an audience for Kurdish films'
Sema Kocatepe stressed the importance of art in the struggle, saying: "A social drama has been taking place in Kurdistan for hundreds of years, and in North Kurdistan in particular the resistance has produced a renaissance in Kurdish society. It is possible to observe this process of renewal in art, music and particularly in cinema. As the YXK we have made it our mission in Europe to publicise these emerging social-artistic values."
Kocatepe said that the film festival was also part of their political work, adding: "Most of the films have a political and social content. Film is a powerful tool for conveying political and social messages. No one can fail to be affected by watching in a cinema a documentary about Roboski or Halabja, or not feel hatred for those responsible. You can read about Amed prison in books, or hear about it from others, but when you watch the film it has a much more profound effect. Our aim is to create such an environment."
(nt)
