Berfîn
Özlem Arzéba, Rojava, 2019, 73'
Film
Kurdish with English subtitles
We., 14.6.2023
20:30
Safi Faye Hall
This film includes scenes of excessive violence. Viewer discretion is advised.
€5/3

Still from Berfîn, Özlem Arzeba, 2019. Rojava Film Commune
Like her mother before her, Berfîn made the decision to go to the mountains and dedicate herself to the guerrilla struggle. In the middle of a harsh everyday life amidst the conflict in Kurdistan, she ccasionally dives deep into her inner world, one that is steeped in bitter childhood memories of military violence, house searches, and insults at school. Under a heavy emotional load, Berfîn sets off in search of her mother, who like herself is torn between struggle, love, and longing. Berfîn was partially filmed in the war zone with limited resources, providing a graphic, tangible depiction of the guerrilla struggle from a woman’s perspective. A special work from the Rojava Film Commune (Komîna Fîlm a Rojava), which was founded in 2015 in the place of the same name—a de facto autonomous region which is attributed to the territory of Syria—the collective aims to continually strengthen local film production as well as film education and culture. It organizes the Rojava Film Academy, which promotes up-and-coming film-makers, as well as the Rojava International Film Festival, which brings cinema to the local public.