KOBANE

Duration: 159 mins
Type: Fiction
Year: 2022

Director:
Özlem Yasar

Producer:
Diyar Hesso

Country:
Kurdistan, Syria

Languages:
Kurdish (Kurmanji), Arabic, Turkish

Logline:
Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, a female Kurdish fighter leads her fellow fighters in the resistance to defend their city “Kobane” from the deadly threat of ISIS. A real story of war, sacrifice, love, and hope that kept the whole world on tenterhooks.

Synopsis:
2014. At the peak of its strength, with control over half of Syria and Iraq, ISIS relentlessly pushes toward the Kurdish Syrian city of Kobanê. Zehra, a 32-year-old Kurdish woman, is a member of the forces that fight with all their might to keep them out. But despite their tireless efforts, ISIS keeps advancing with brutal force. As the war reaches the city centre, the leading commander of the city, Rojwar, takes fright and abandons his fellow fighters. Having lost many of her beloved comrades at war, Zehra is compelled to take his place and lead the resistance herself. The ruthless advance of ISIS is slowed down with the arrival of Gelhat and his comrades, experienced guerrilla fighters who are familiar with urban war. But the calm does not last long: the Kurds are outnumbered and outgunned, and ISIS manages to lay siege to the city. With dwindling numbers and resources, the Kurdish resistance loses territory day by day. Their plan to retake the city falls apart when ISIS fiercely launches a crushing attack on them from all sides, and many Kurdish fighters fall martyrs, Gelhat among them. Despite it all, Zehra and her comrades do not give up, and as ISIS members lose their spirit and start to disperse, she leads the break of the siege, marking the dawn of the city’s liberation. This is a story of faith and fear, war and resistance, camaraderie and betrayal; a story of love, loss, heroism, and sacrifice together with the intensity of war and revolution. “Nothing will ever be the same again.”

Özlem Yasar – Director

Sun 14 May 2023, 14:15 – Screen 3