Stories of Destroyed Cities: Şhengal

The Songs of Red Braids: Woman, life, freedom. The woman brought wheat from the field and was the master of finding opportunities in life.

Kurds call it Rojava, or the West, the place where the sun sets on Kurdish lands: the north of Syria, the stage of the most violent war of our times, painted in blood by the mass-rape and mass-killings of the ISIS terrorist organization. It is here, in Rojava, in three destroyed cities, that three separate stories tell the story of how savage war destroys not only our cities, but our people, too. Sinjar, Kobanî and Jazaa are three towns that display the most destructive impact of modern war. All three are in the process of being rebuilt at the moment. The people who live here have transformed their tragedies into a determination to leave a better Rojava for future generations.

In the Summer of 2014, the Islamic State invaded Shengal, the Ezidi capital in Kurdistan (Iraq). The plan was to exterminate the ethnical/religious minority who were despised and called “devil worshippers’. 5000 Ezidi men have been killed, and 7000 women and children have been taken into slavery. This film tells Shengal’s liberation through the stories of five partisans who are five archetypes of the many that came to fight against the Islamic State from several different countries.

Gule is preparing for her wedding the next day. Her family receives news of an imminent threat of war attack on the city. They must take a decision: Should they celebrate the wedding or not?

A musical about the history of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement

The Ezidîs (Yazidis) in Kurdistan have been the victims of massacres numerous times. This documentary follows their bards, the dengbêj, and examines how their songs tell stories of love and genocide.

Darên bitenê is a fascinating documentary exploring the “dengbej” musical heritage of the singers, poets and storytellers from Northern Syria’s region. Featuring a stunning scenery of poetic landscapes, the film is interlaced with stories of Kurdish and Assyrian songs that narrate the long history of love and suffering of this semi-autonomous region.