NIGHT AND FOG IN KURDISTAN

The Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking people of what is now Iraqi Kurdistan, have been oft persecuted for maintaining their traditional culture, including a unique religion based on pre-Zoroastrian beliefs. This rendered them a special target for ISIS, which in 2014 massacred and abducted thousands in Shingal, the largest Yazidi-majority city. Kurdish director Shilan Saadi—beset by her own childhood memories of the Iran–Iraq War—runs a filmmaking workshop for survivors of Shingal, teaching seven teenaged girls to document their lives in a Turkish refugee camp. Bonds are forged and strengthened, but soon fray as one after another departs for Europe. Taking a mixed-media approach to the Yazidi genocide and its aftermath, Saadi and her collaborators produce an uncannily powerful group portrait, each frame a witness to perseverance and haunted by absence.

  • Shilan Saadi
  • Iran, Belgium, Canada, Georgia, Turkey
  • 90 minutes
  • Language: Kurdish and Turkish; with English subtitles

    

    CONTENT CONSIDERATION: Subject matter includes war and genocide

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About Austin Asian American Film Festival

The mission of the Austin Asian American Film Festival (AAAFF) is to tell Asian and Asian American stories via media arts and help Asian Americans explore opportunities in cinema. We do this by showcasing the best in new Asian and Asian American cinema at our annual film festival, and through year-round screenings and special events. AAAFF is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.