AMED – The difficulties experienced in Kurdish cinema and methods of collective struggle against them will be discussed at the Kurdish Cinema Workshop.

 

Filmmakers came together at the Yenişehir Municipality Conference Hall in Amed (Diyarbakır) to discuss the problems and future of Kurdish cinema. Numerous filmmakers, actors, writers and directors from cities across Turkey and Kurdistan attended the Kurdish Cinema Workshop hosted by the Middle East Cinema Academy. At the workshop, which began with a moment of silence, the filmmakers remembered the late filmmakers Halil Dağ, Hacı Lokman Birlik, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Taha Kerimi, Mehmet Aksoy, Mensur (Pîro) Kerimyan, Mazdek Ararat, Hakan Tezel and Kadir İnanır.

 

Aram Dildar, who delivered the opening speech, drew attention to the major difficulties Kurdish cinema has experienced. Recalling that many institutional structures have been formed and many filmmakers have been trained for the development of Kurdish cinema, Dildar said: "From now on we will discuss whether we will make cinema in our own mother tongue. We will discuss whether, as Kurdish filmmakers, we can move toward an institutional structure."

 

'WE CAN DEVELOP THE SOLUTION TOGETHER'

 

Recalling that the Kurdish language was banned in Turkey for many years, Dildar emphasized that great sacrifices were paid in the struggle for the mother tongue. Noting that as the Middle East Cinema Academy they are hosting this work, but that going forward they aim for these efforts to be carried out through the collective organization that will emerge from the workshop, Dildar said: "If Kurdish cinema has problems, these are problems for all of us. We can also develop the solution together. Through this work, we will try to bring out collectively, with a collective mind, what kind of organization we need to make for the development of Kurdish cinema, its formulas and solutions."

 

Following the opening speech, the workshop, which continued closed to the press, will discuss the difficulties faced by Kurdish cinema and proposed solutions.