8-10 May 2026
Immerse yourself in a multitude of looks at the Kurds and a chronically urgent cinema.
Rojin, a Kurdish-Finnish woman, finds her life and family crumbling apart, as her father makes an unexpected, devastating visit, which forces her to confront her complicated past with the father and her teen daughter.
Without commentary and with a patiently observing camera, Despite All That lets women of Rojava speak. What begins as sober observation deepens into intimate stories and striking images, balancing trauma, revolutionary ideals and everyday life.
A young man sets out to understand what love truly means by asking strangers a single, life-defining question and discovers answers he never expected.
Kardeş Türküler ile 30 Yıl follows the project’s 30-year journey from Boğaziçi University’s Folklore Club, uniting cultures, languages and generations through music amid Turkey’s social change.
At the heart of this program lies resilience. Dil û Hêz unfolds through stories of hope, determination and vulnerability. In moments of fragility and strength, across family, disability, and community, these films show how resilience grows through love, presence and the courage to keep going.
To mark five years of the Amsterdam Koerdisch Film Festival, we are proud to present a limited-edition merchandise release in collaboration with KurdistanAF. This special edition celebrates the spirit of AKFF. Rooted in storytelling, culture, community and reflects the journey of the festival over the past five years. The T-shirts will be available exclusively at the AKFF Bazaar on Saturday and Sunday during the festival. They can only be purchased on site and are available while supplies last.
The AKFF Bazaar brings together makers, designers, and small brands offering work rooted in culture, craft, and storytelling. Visitors can explore traditional and contemporary Kurdish fashion, including clothing, dresses, accessories, shoes, and items featuring symbolic cultural elements such as flags and handcrafted details. The bazaar also presents handmade textiles and accessories, along with knitted and crocheted pieces such as bags, scarves, keychains, bracelets, and headbands — each created with care and rooted in tradition. Food is an important part of the experience, with Kurdish specialties including olive oil, za’atar, traditional homemade sweets, and savoury dishes prepared from family recipes. A selection of Kurdish books is also available, offering literature and cultural publications in Kurdish and related contexts. Together, the AKFF Bazaar creates a shared space for culture, craftsmanship, taste, and everyday exchange.
Rootless Resident follows Yervant's fight to reclaim Armenian heritage while labeled Kurdish and Turkish Armenian, confronting identity and trauma.
In The Traveling Cinema, actor Ismaîl Mamo returns to Kobanî with a dream: bringing cinema to forgotten villages. Against odds, he and his team create wonder where film had never reached.
Step into stories that blur boundaries between life and death and more-than-human realms. Through poetic imagery and layered storytelling, Navbera Cîhanan explores loss, hope and survival. Moving between the imaginative and the real, the films invite us into intimate inner worlds shaped by grief, memory and love.
An in-depth conversation on cultural identity and assimilation in film, with a particular focus on the Kurdish context. The panel explores how filmmakers navigate the tension between adaptation and the preservation of cultural identity, and how these dynamics are reflected, challenged, or reimagined on screen. Moderated by Zara Toksöz, the discussion brings together perspectives from Michiel Leezenberg, Fernando Sebastián Barrientos, and filmmaker Erol Mintaş, offering interdisciplinary insights from film, philosophy, and cultural studies.
At the height of 1990s student unrest in Istanbul, a naïve Kurdish freshman is drawn into radical campus politics, where friendship, identity and first love collide with state repression and the fading dream of revolution.
A tumultuous story of star-crossed lovers Hama Ali, a charismatic Kurdish actor from Iraq and Ayca, a charming actress from Turkey with a on-going war testing the lengths of their love.
A powerful testament to the human spirit, Mediha turns the camera on herself to confront trauma as rescuers search for her missing family, revealing a young survivor’s strength.
A glimpse into artist Bistyek’s life as he turns his refugee experience into powerful art, giving voice to the unheard and telling stories of struggle, displacement and resilience.
Teenage Peri's arranged marriage faces troubles. To resolve issues, she revisits family archives from when relatives recorded memories in the 2000s in Sulaimani after her mother's early death.
In Mosul, a city devastated during the battle for liberation from the Islamic State, the fight to heal and preserve its identity, culture, and art is not over.
A young literature teacher lives a comfortable life in Oslo until his estranged uncle from the Iranian part of Kurdistan unexpectedly arrives for a visit.
On Saturday evening, the Amsterdam Koerdisch Film Festival concludes its second day with a live music performance. At De Krakeling, Loma Reqs takes the stage. The duo, Hêja Netirk and Rico Danta, blends modern Kurdish poetry with electronic music, improvisation, and traditional vocal forms. Their sound moves fluidly between past and future, a style often described as Kurdish Acid.
In present-day Amed, a Kurdish family strained by poverty and emotional distance struggles to stay connected as each member quietly dreams of a different life beyond their conflicted home.
Dengbêjên Me follows the last living dengbêjs, guardians of Kurdish oral song tradition, across Bakûr, weaving memory, pain and resistance into an intimate archive and farewell to a fading world.
Rojin, a Kurdish-Finnish woman, finds her life and family crumbling apart, as her father makes an unexpected, devastating visit, which forces her to confront her complicated past with the father and her teen daughter.
Through survivors, witnesses and former perpetrators, 38 revisits the 1937–38 Dersim events, where suppression of a Kurdish rebellion became a violent rupture marked by silence and denial.
In a mountain village of East Kurdistan (Iran), a young boy defies tradition and his family’s beliefs as he risks everything to save a fallen stork chick—challenging the delicate balance between compassion and the laws of nature.
The AKFF Bazaar brings together makers, designers, and small brands offering work rooted in culture, craft, and storytelling. Visitors can explore traditional and contemporary Kurdish fashion, including clothing, dresses, accessories, shoes, and items featuring symbolic cultural elements such as flags and handcrafted details. The bazaar also presents handmade textiles and accessories, along with knitted and crocheted pieces such as bags, scarves, keychains, bracelets, and headbands — each created with care and rooted in tradition. Food is an important part of the experience, with Kurdish specialties including olive oil, za’atar, traditional homemade sweets, and savoury dishes prepared from family recipes. A selection of Kurdish books is also available, offering literature and cultural publications in Kurdish and related contexts. Together, the AKFF Bazaar creates a shared space for culture, craftsmanship, taste, and everyday exchange.
During the Amsterdam Koerdisch Film Festival, we are hosting an acting workshop for children aged 8–14. In a playful and supportive setting, participants are introduced to the basics of acting, with room for imagination, expression, and collaboration. The workshop is led by actor and writer Ismail Mamo. Participation is free, but registration is required. Spots are limited. Register via: ozlem@akff.nl
To mark five years of the Amsterdam Koerdisch Film Festival, we are proud to present a limited-edition merchandise release in collaboration with KurdistanAF. This special edition celebrates the spirit of AKFF. Rooted in storytelling, culture, community and reflects the journey of the festival over the past five years. The T-shirts will be available exclusively at the AKFF Bazaar on Saturday and Sunday during the festival. They can only be purchased on site and are available while supplies last.
To exist is to claim your rightful presence, to persist, and to remember. Hebûn moves through stories of exile, heritage, and generational memory - where landscapes, families, and histories echo across time. These films shed light on the people weaving ties of belonging, gently unravelling what it means to belong.
Q&A with Shahab Mehrabi
Stories shaped by struggle, carried by resilience. Berxwedan û Jiyan brings together intimate encounters with lives marked by displacement, migration, and survival - where motherhood, identity, and dignity are constantly discussed. From silenced voices to acts of defiance, these stories remind us that resistance is life.
Q&A with Ibrahim Karatay
This is the story of two women on opposite ends of a life-time, a very young, curious Jiyan and her life-weary but resistant grandmother Berfe, in order to save the person who links them to each other.
In Kurdistan the last residents of an ancient town watch helplessly as centuries-old traditions disappear when the Turkish government floods their land.
Through the lens of a Kurdish filmmaker, past and present collide as the act of documenting a struggle for democracy becomes a journey into memory, identity, and resistance.
Through former students’ memories, YİBO reveals how Turkey’s Regional Boarding Primary Schools, built for remote village children, became tools of separation and assimilation, scarring Kurdish families.
The festival edition concludes with the Award Ceremony at Het Ketelhuis. During this evening, we announce the winning films and celebrate the strength, diversity, and continued growth of Kurdish cinema. We also take this moment to thank our filmmakers, partners, volunteers, and most importantly, our audience for making the festival possible. The winner of the AKFF Academy will also be presented. The evening concludes with a special performance and live music. Awards will be presented in four categories: Best Fiction Short · Best Documentary Short · Best Fiction Feature · Best Documentary Feature --- The ceremony is hosted by Beri Shalmashi and Hêja Netirk.
The festival closes with a vibrant live performance by the Merdan music group, bringing the powerful sounds of Dahol and Zurna to the stage. Rooted in Kurdish musical tradition, this performance blends rhythm, melody, and celebration, inviting the audience into a shared moment of music and dance. Expect an energetic closing atmosphere where sound and movement come together to end the festival on a collective high note.
