Best of Kurdish Cinema
by shamal_sabri | created - 08 Jul 2016 | updated - 15 Jul 2016 | PublicA collection of best Kurdish Films
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1. Rauf (2016)
94 min | Drama, Family, Romance
Rauf hopes to win over his big crush, the older Zana, with the help of the colour pink. But what does pink really look like anyways, and will he even be able to find it in his snowy little ... See full summary »
Directors: Soner Caner, Baris Kaya | Stars: Alen Huseyin Gursoy, Yavuz Gürbüz, Seyda Sozuer, Muhammed Ubic
Votes: 568
2. Vodka Lemon (2003)
90 min | Comedy, Drama
In a remote, isolated Yazidi Kurdish village in post-Soviet Armenia, Hamo, a widower with a pitiful pension and three worthless sons, travels daily to his wife's grave. There he meets the ... See full summary »
Director: Hiner Saleem | Stars: Romen Avinian, Lala Sarkissian, Ivan Franek, Ruzan Mesropyan
Votes: 2,130 | Gross: $0.06M
3. Turtles Can Fly (2004)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, War
Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak (Ebrahim), gauge and await their fate.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman
Votes: 20,699 | Gross: $0.26M
4. Letter to the King (2014)
75 min | Drama
'Letter to the King' portrays five people on a day trip from a refugee camp to Oslo, a welcome change in an otherwise monotonous life. Each and every one of them has an agenda for their ... See full summary »
Director: Hisham Zaman | Stars: Ali Bag Salimi, Zheer Durhan, Nazmi Kirik, Hassan Dimirci
Votes: 257
5. Memories on Stone (2014)
97 min | Comedy, Drama, History
Kurdish childhood friends Hussein (37) and Alan (40) direct and produce a film about the genocide of Kurdish people in Iraq, the Anfal campaign in 1988. They learn that, to achieve veracity... See full summary »
Director: Shawkat Amin Korki | Stars: Hussein Hassan Ali, Nazmi Kirik, Shima Molaei, Rekish Shahbaz
Votes: 191
6. Before Snowfall (2013)
96 min | Drama
A sixteen-year-old boy gets wrapped in plastic, and lowered into a tank truck full of crude oil. That's how Hisham Zaman's long awaited feature film debut begins.
Director: Hisham Zaman | Stars: Abdullah Taher, Suzan Ilir, Bahar Ozen, Ava Abdulsattar
Votes: 598
7. Silent (2012)
14 min | Short, Drama
The prison of Diyarbakir, the setting of the story, is like the symbol of the torture experienced in the prisons in Turkey after the coup d'etat of 1980. However, in this story, I did not ... See full summary »
Director: L. Rezan Yesilbas | Stars: Belçim Bilgin, Cem Bender
Votes: 557
8. Kick Off (2009)
81 min | Drama
Inside a beat up stadium in Kirkuk, Iraq, live many refugees trying to escape Sadam Hussein's administration. Asu lives with his younger brother who has lost his legs from a landmine. Next ... See full summary »
Director: Shawkat Amin Korki | Stars: Shwan Attoof, Hamed Diyar, Hamajaga Hilin, Anwar Sako
Votes: 174
9. Crossing the Dust (2006)
73 min | Drama
A road movie set in Iraq in 2003 during the fall of Saddam. Two Kurds are looking for the parents of a five-year-old boy who has been found in the street in tears. His name is Saddam too. ... See full summary »
Director: Shawkat Amin Korki | Stars: Adil Abdolrahman, Hussein Hassan Ali, Aba Rash, Eyam Ekrem
Votes: 122
10. A Time for Drunken Horses (2000)
Not Rated | 80 min | Drama, War
Young Iranian Kurdish siblings try to save the youngest of them, who is seriously ill.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Ayoub Ahmadi, Rojin Younessi, Amaneh Ekhtiar-dini, Madi Ekhtiar-dini
Votes: 8,813 | Gross: $0.70M
11. Rhino Season (2012)
88 min | Drama, Thriller
Kurdish-Iranian poet Sahel has just been released from a thirty-year prison sentence in Iran. Now the one thing keeping him going is the thought of finding his wife, who thinks him dead for over twenty years.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Behrouz Vossoughi, Monica Bellucci, Yilmaz Erdogan, Caner Cindoruk
Votes: 7,285
12. Come to My Voice (2014)
105 min | Drama
This is the story of two women on opposite ends of a life-time, a very young, curious Jiyan and her life-weary but resistant grandmother Berfe, in order to save the person who links them to each other.
Director: Hüseyin Karabey | Stars: Tuncay Akdemir, Selim Bulut, Sabahettin DAG, Feride Gezer
Votes: 371
13. Where Is Kurdistan? (2016)
23 min | Short, Drama
An illegal immigrant is reminded of his origin by the melodies of an instrument of his birthplace Bumiyan, Afganistan. However, the musician playing the instrument claims that the melodies ... See full summary »
Director: Aboozar Amini | Stars: Ysbrant Bakker, Raissa Faber, Dawood Hilmandi, Delbrin Sharif
Votes: 13
14. My Sweet Pepper Land (2013)
100 min | Drama
Baran, a Kurdish independence war hero, is now sheriff in Erbil, the capital city. No longer feeling useful in this society now at peace, he thinks about quitting the police force, but ... See full summary »
Director: Hiner Saleem | Stars: Korkmaz Arslan, Golshifteh Farahani, Suat Usta, Mir Murad Bedirxan
Votes: 2,523
15. Yol (1982)
PG | 107 min | Drama
When five Kurdish prisoners are granted one week's home leave, they find to their dismay that they face continued oppression outside of prison from their families, the culture, and the government.
Directors: Serif Gören, Yilmaz Güney | Stars: Tarik Akan, Serif Sezer, Halil Ergün, Meral Orhonsay
Votes: 14,466
16. Kilomètre zéro (2005)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, War
Set during the Iraq-Iran war in the 80s, the film tells of a tragicomic road trip set in Iraq's Kurdistan.
Director: Hiner Saleem | Stars: Nazmi Kirik, Eyam Ekrem, Belçim Bilgin, Ehmed Qeladizeni
Votes: 498
17. No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009)
106 min | Drama, Music
Iranian musicians Negar and Ashkan look for band members to play at a London concert - and the visas that allow them to leave Tehran to do so.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Koshanejad, Hamed Behdad, Babak Mirzakhani
Votes: 7,466 | Gross: $0.08M
18. Half Moon (2006)
107 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Mamo, an old and legendary Kurdish musician living in Iran, plans to give one final concert in Iraqi Kurdistan. After seven months of trying to get a permit and rounding up his ten sons, he... See full summary »
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Ismail Ghaffari, Allah-Morad Rashtian, Farzin Sabooni, Kambiz Arshi
Votes: 3,085 | Gross: $0.00M
19. Marooned in Iraq (2002)
100 min | Drama, War
During the war between Iran and Iraq, a group of Iranian Kurd musicians set off on an almost impossible mission. They will try to find Hanareh, a singer with a magic voice who crossed the ... See full summary »
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Shahab Ebrahimi, Faegh Mohamadi, Allah-Morad Rashtian, Rojan Hosseini
Votes: 1,619 | Gross: $0.14M
20. A Flag Without a Country (2015)
97 min | Documentary, War
A documentary about Kurds, middle-east war and "Kurdistan", a nation with about 45m population and still without a country.
Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Nariman Anwar, Helly Luv
Votes: 221
21. Life on the Border (2015)
73 min | Documentary, War
A documentary made by eight children from Kobani and Shengal in refugee camps on the border of Syria and Iraq, who recorded their own life experiences and stories in the wake of brutal attacks by ISIS.
Directors: Mahmod Ahmad, Ronahi Ezaddin, Sami Hossein, Delovan Kekha, Hazem Khodeideh, Diar Omar, Zohour Saeid, Basmeh Soleiman, Nemati Shaho, Mohammad Towrivarian
Votes: 50
22. Bawke (2005)
15 min | Short, Drama
A father is forced to choose between two evils to provide for his son.
Director: Hisham Zaman | Stars: Sedar Ahmad Saleh, Broa Ako Rasol, Håkon Hatlen, Håvard Jenssen
Votes: 225
23. Bekas (2012)
97 min | Adventure, Drama
Iraq in the early 1990 was a devastating land to survive in. When we think of Iraq, the first thing that tends to pop into our minds is the war and Saddam Hussein. But there is another side... See full summary »
Director: Karzan Kader | Stars: Zamand Taha, Sarwar Fazil, Diya Mariwan, Suliman Karim Mohamad
Votes: 5,783
24. Song of My Mother (2014)
103 min | Drama, Family
A young Kurdish man is torn between his mother's nostalgic search of a song in her dreams and an uncertain future with his pregnant girlfriend.
Director: Erol Mintas | Stars: Feyyaz Duman, Zübeyde Ronahi, Nesrin Cavadzade, Ferit Kaya
Votes: 544
25. Houses with Small Windows (2013)
16 min | Short, Drama
22-year old Dilan pays for her forbidden love for a young man in a neighbouring village with her life.
Director: Bülent Öztürk | Stars: Müjde Arslan, Seyithan Altiparmak, Emine Korkmaz, Gülcan Atmaca
Votes: 46
26. Zare (1927)
72 min | Drama
Immediately prior to the Russian Revolution, a young shepherd Seydo and his girlfriend Zare struggle for their right to a happy love in a Yazidi Kurdish village in Russian Armenia.
Director: Amo Bek-Nazaryan | Stars: Maria Tenazi, Hrachia Nersisyan, Avet Avetisyan, Olga Gulazyan
Votes: 126
27. Mardan (2014)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
Mardan is a police officer who one day meets Leila, whose husband has disappeared. Mardan takes it on himself to solve the mystery.
Director: Batin Ghobadi | Stars: Hussein Hassan Ali, Helly Luv, Feyyaz Duman, Ismail Zagros
Votes: 173
28. Jîn (2013)
122 min | Drama
Jin, a guerrilla, lives in a cave and decides to escape from the organization. She finds some civilian clothes and goes down from the mountain to the city. However, the city is no safer than the mountain.
Director: Reha Erdem | Stars: Deniz Hasgüler, Onur Ünsal, Yildirim Simsek, Ayris Alptekin
Votes: 2,055
29. Before Your Eyes (2009)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama
Diyarbakir, in the late nineties: Two young Kurdish children are forced to live on the street after their parents have been murdered by a member of a secret state security force.
Director: Miraz Bezar | Stars: Senay Orak, Muhammed Al, Hakan Karsak, Suzan Ilir
Votes: 1,331
30. Blackboards (2000)
88 min | Drama, War
Itinerant Kurdish teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, look for students in the hills and villages of Iran, near the Iraqi border during the Iran-Iraq war. Said falls in with a ... See full summary »
Director: Samira Makhmalbaf | Stars: Said Mohamadi, Behnaz Jafari, Bahman Ghobadi, Mohamad Karim Rahmati
Votes: 2,898 | Gross: $0.00M
31. Welcome (I) (2009)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
Bilal sets off on an adventure-filled journey across Europe and wants to get to England to see his love who lives there.
Director: Philippe Lioret | Stars: Vincent Lindon, Firat Ayverdi, Audrey Dana, Derya Ayverdi
Votes: 7,612 | Gross: $0.01M
32. 111 Girls (2012)
Not Rated | 79 min | Drama
A government official travels across Iranian Kurdistan on a mission to stop 111 young women from committing suicide. An official selection of the prestigious, award-winning Global Lens ... See full summary »
Directors: Nahid Ghobadi, Bijan Zmanpira | Stars: Reza Behbudi, Amin Sadeghi, Mehdi Saki, Yasemin Ashvan
Votes: 112
33. Aç Kurtlar (1969)
Not Rated | 85 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Memed is a fugitive with a sole purpose to find and execute bandits in the mountains. When a rich landowner wants to avenge the death of his father, he hires Memed as a bounty hunter.
Director: Yilmaz Güney | Stars: Yilmaz Güney, Sevgi Can, Hayati Hamzaoglu, Türkan Agrali
Votes: 400
34. The Herd (1978)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama
Because of a local blood feud, a peasant family in eastern Turkey decides to sell its sheep in far away Ankara.
Director: Zeki Ökten | Stars: Tarik Akan, Melike Demirag, Tuncel Kurtiz, Savas Yurttas
Votes: 5,323
35. Jiyan (2002)
102 min | Drama, Romance, War
Five years following the infamous chemical and biological bombing of Halabja, Diyari, a Kurdish/ American good Samaritan, returns to his homeland to build an orphanage in what is left of ... See full summary »
Director: Jano Rosebiani | Stars: Kurdo Galali, Pirshang Berzinji, Choman Hawrami, Enwer Shexani
Votes: 118
36. All My Mothers (2009)
80 min | Documentary
During the 30 years of the Baath ruling under Sadam in Iraq thousands of Iraqi Kurds and Shiites were either killed or disappeared. Around 182,000 people lost their lives when 4500 villages... See full summary »
Directors: Abbas Ghazali, Ebrahim Saeedi, Zahavi Sanjavi
Votes: 87
37. Vinterland (2007)
52 min | Drama
A love story about two Kurds in the north of Norway.
Director: Hisham Zaman | Stars: Raouf Saraj, Shler Rahnoma, Kawa Gilli, Alibag Salimi
Votes: 213
38. 1001 Apples (2013)
74 min | Documentary
In 1988 the Iraqi Ba'ath party murdered and buried 182,000 Kurds in 350 mass graves. Only 10 people managed to escape. Faraj climbed out from amongst the dead and was taken to the USA by '... See full summary »
Director: Taha Karimi
Votes: 60
39. Klamek ji bo Beko (1992)
100 min | War
Beko is a young Kurd who lives in the Turkish part of Kurdistan.
Director: Nizamettin Ariç | Stars: Nizamettin Ariç, Bezara Arsen, Lusika Hesen, Cemalê Jora
Votes: 93
40. Wild Kurdistan (1965)
95 min | Adventure
In Kurdistan Ahmed, the sheikh's son of Halef's Bedouin tribe, is captured by the Turkish governor's militia. Kara Ben Nemsi and Halef try to rescue him and re-meet Sir David Lindsay who is venturing to help a lady in distress.
Director: Franz Josef Gottlieb | Stars: Lex Barker, Marie Versini, Ralf Wolter, Djordje Nenadovic
Votes: 676
41. Close-up Kurdistan (2007)
104 min | Documentary
Director: Yüksel Yavuz | Stars: Abdulkadir Aygan, Beriwan, Ismail Besikçi, Eyse Sipendarik
Votes: 68
42. Die Schwalbe (2016)
103 min | Drama
The young Swiss woman Mira searches for her lost father with the help from her Kurdish friend Ramo. The two come closer when travelling. However, the dark past and the political issues make everything difficult.
Director: Mano Khalil | Stars: Manon Pfrunder, Ismail Zagros, Dejin Jamil Khidir, Bangen Ali
Votes: 113
43. David der Tolhildan (2007)
54 min | Documentary
A portrait of David Rouiller, a young Swiss man who joined the Kurdish freedom movement PKK
Director: Mano Khalil | Star: David Rouiller
Votes: 30
44. El clásico (2015)
95 min | Drama
Two Kurdish little people in Iraq risk their lives to fulfill their dreams and that is to meet football hero Cristiano Ronaldo.
Director: Halkawt Mustafa | Stars: Ahmed Adel, Wrya Ahmed, Dana Ahmes, Marmar Alhilali
Votes: 554
45. A Long Night (I) (2014)
14 min | Short, Drama
Within wars and revolutions many people become victims and many heroes, names arise, but sadness, sorrow and disasters become the share of woman. Woman in every case sacrifices but ... See full summary »
Director: Kamiran Betasi | Stars: Ruges Kirici, Ravo Sharif
Votes: 12
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