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By LKFF:
Hosting three internationally renowned Kurdish filmmakers and a range of awarded films, the London Kurdish Film Festival is delighted to announce its 8th Festival from 15th to 24th November 2013. This year’s opening gala is crowned with the UK premiere of ‘Before Snowfall’, a thought-provoking and poignant film about honour killing, by the multi-award winning director Hisham Zaman, who will also be attending the festival.
With the screening of an astounding 121 films, the LKFF is the only festival that brings together the largest selection of films from all four parts of Kurdistan and around the world. Comprising 23 features, 46 documentaries and 52 shorts, the festival explores a variety of issues, including: human and women’s rights; war and political struggle; homeland, conflicts of culture, language, and identity.
Highlights in our exclusive, star-studded feature line-up include master filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi’s UK premiere of ‘Rhino Season’ starring award-winning actress Monica Bellucci and Behrouz Vossoughi; the UK premiere of the prestigious Cannes selected, ‘My Sweet Pepperland’ directed by Hiner Saleem; and Antalya Golden Orange Best Film winner ‘Your Beauty Is Worth Nothing’ directed by Hüseyin Tabak. The directors will be attending the festival and are ready for interviews and Q&As.
This year’s programme also includes two topical documentaries, exploring the current struggle of Kurds in Syria (West Kurdistan): ‘The Silent Revolution’, and ‘The Last Cigarette’.
We also present two award winning shorts: ‘Houses With Small Windows’ (2013 European Short Film Award, Venice) and L. Rezan Yeşilbaş’s ‘Silent’, which won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at Festival Cannes 2012.
20 of the short films are competing in the prestigious 4th Yılmaz Güney short Film Competition, which will be announced during the festival.
Our Opening Gala will be attended by a variety of prominent guests. We are very honoured that Mr. Essa Moosa will be delivering a special address on our opening evening. A towering lawyer, judge and human rights activist, appointed in 1998 by President Nelson Mandela as a judge of the High Court of the Supreme Court of South Africa, Essa Moosa made his mark, not only in South Africa, but globally. He presently serves as the chairperson of the Kurdish Human Right Action Group (KHRAG), based in Cape Town.
Set in the renowned Hackney Picturehouse and Westbourne Studios, the festival presents its rich programme from 16 -24 November 2013. The opening gala reception is by invitation only and takes place on Friday 15th November 2013, 6pm, at Magnolia Banquetting Suite.
Members of the press are invited for accreditation.
For further information and accreditations, please contact:
Esra Turk, London Kurdish Film Festival Press Office, Tel: 07765 454537, Email: lkffpr@gmail.com
- Facebook: LondonKurdishFilmFestival
- The London Kurdish Film Festival is the largest Kurdish film festival of its kind in the world. Thousands of titles, including many features, short, documentaries and even animation films, have made this label a rich and prolific enterprise with regular screenings at international festivals such as Cannes, Venice and Berlin IFF, amongst others.
- The Short Film Competition honours the great Kurdish director, Yilmaz Güney, who died in 1984, in exile in Paris. The competition takes place for the 4th time and is open to Kurdish and non-Kurdish filmmakers.
- Our belief in recognising the importance of screenplays for the development of Kurdish cinema means that a novelty in this year’s festival is the London Kurdish film festival screenplay competition.
- Hackney Picturehouse, 270 Mare Street, Hackney Central, London, E8 1HE
- Westbourne Studios, 242 Acklam Road, London, W10 5JJ
