“The Kurds have no friends but the mountains” – this phrase, often repeated in global debates about the situation of Kurdish women and men, points to successive betrayals by the international community and policies of exclusion pursued by states in the region. This year’s edition of the festival, organized by the Wajda Film Centre, the Kurdish Studies Unit, and the Department of Iranian Studies at the Jagiellonian University, seeks to reverse that narrative.

The central idea of the festival is to draw attention to individuals outside the Kurdish community – primarily members of the Iranian and Turkish majorities – who have chosen dialogue, solidarity, and resistance to the oppression of their own states, often at great personal risk. Instead of a pessimistic slogan, we aim to promote the belief that Kurds can have friends – and that “being a friend of the Kurds” can become a more widespread and valued stance.

Cinema appears to be a particularly fitting medium for this initiative: its emotional and philosophical potential, as well as its ability to stimulate the moral imagination and collective memory, creates conditions for building mutual understanding. Alongside documentary screenings, the programme includes discussions with researchers, activists, and scholars, complemented by a multimedia presentation of photographs by Shahrzad Arshadi and a musical performance by Kurdish singer Pervin Kaplan.

PROGRAMME

17 April (Friday), 7:00 PM
The struggle of Kurdish women through the eyes of Shahrzad Arshadi

The evening opens with two documentary films by Montreal-based artist and activist Shahrzad Arshadi.

Dancing for Change
Canada 2015, 50 min, Kurdish (Sorani) and Persian, English/Polish subtitles

A portrait of six Kurdish women from Iran, representing three generations, who since 1979 have been organizing and resisting the oppression of the Islamic Republic from a mountain camp of an underground organization.

Dengbêj / The Storyteller
Canada 2024, 35 min, Kurdish (Kurmanji, Sorani) and Persian, English/Polish subtitles

The film tells the story of two women from the mountains of Kurdistan: Peyman – a leader combining courage with compassion – and Viyan, a singer endowed with an extraordinary voice. The film won the Best Short Documentary award at KIIFF (Kurdish International Independent Film Festival 2025).

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Shahrzad Arshadi and Ebrahim Barzegar, focusing on the director’s cinematic journey and the situation in Rojhelat (Iranian Kurdistan) as well as minorities in Iranian cinema. Moderator: Joanna Bocheńska.

The evening will conclude with a musical performance by Pervin Kaplan.

18 April (Saturday), 5:00 PM
Against silence. The legacy of İsmail

Bizim İsmail / Our Ismail
dir. Fatin Kanat and Önder İnce, Turkey 2024, 78 min

A subtle and insightful portrait of İsmail Beşikçi (b. 1939), a Turkish sociologist, philosopher, and writer who spent a total of around 17 years in prison for his work on the Kurdish question. His 1969 book on Kurdish society made him public enemy number one in Turkey. Arrested multiple times, he never secured a position in academia and conducted his research independently under difficult financial conditions. The film portrays Beşikçi and his Kurdish fellow prisoners, focusing not on the brutality of the system but on the strength of friendship and courage in resisting state oppression.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Fatma Edemen, Cansu Yumuşak, Onur Yılmaz, and Cem Koç on the role of science, the humanities, and the arts under authoritarian conditions in Turkey. Moderator: Karol Kaczorowski.

19 April (Sunday), 5:00 PM
Poland–Rojava: a shared cause

Blooming in the Desert
dir. Benedetta Argentieri, Italy 2020, 30 min

A story of Raqqa’s transformation after the fall of ISIS. The city, once called the “capital” of the so-called Islamic State, is being rebuilt by a new generation of women. The film follows Maryam Ibrahim from the Women’s Administration Office, Awaft Al Issa working within municipal structures, and Hind Abdulaziz – a musician and singer. Under ISIS and the Ba’ath regime, women were almost entirely excluded from public life; now they are co-creating Raqqa and redefining the future of women in Syria.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with representatives of the Rojava/DAANES solidarity movement, also addressing the current situation in the region in light of renewed threats to its revolutionary women’s institutions. Co-moderators: Helena Kereczoch and Marcin Skupiński.

The project is co-financed under the Excellence Initiative Programme of the Jagiellonian University.

Co-organizers:
Kurdish Studies Unit and the Department of Iranian Studies at the Jagiellonian University