The Rojava Film Commune (Komina Film a Rojava) was founded in July 2015 to bring the culture of cinema to Rojava by screening films, supporting local filmmakers, and training new talents.  In the belief that cinema can change society, it promotes the creation, production, and distribution of feature-length films, short films, and documentaries. 

It  was established under the auspices of the Rojava Revolution and considers itself influenced by the work of Yilmaz Güney.

 It has produced many films, both collectively and individually, by and for people of Rojava about their history and revolution. Its films depict the daily struggles in Rojava’s attempt to build a new society and battle ISIS. You can watch its self-introductory video here. You can visit its website here.

The Rojava Film Commune says, “We shall not allow the cinema to be simplified to become an industrial tool, or a consumable and exhaustible object. Our vibrant streets will be our film sets. The squares of our villages will become our cultural centers. Our factories and restaurants will become our cinema halls.”

The Commune runs the Rojava Film Academy, which offers one-year courses in Kurdish language and international film history, film theory, and all the stages of film production, taught by local and international film professionals. The structure of the Academy is horizontal, allowing the students to co-organize it.

In 2016 academy graduates and co-founders produced the Commune’s first feature film Stories of Destroyed Cities, presenting the realities of the war zone, directed by Shero Hinde. In the same year, the Commune’s international film festival was inaugurated in the city of Kobanê and introduced films from all over the world to the region’s Kurdish, Assyrian, and Arab populations.

Given the steady if slow-motion Turkish attacks on Rojava, the Commune members work in highly unstable and uncertain conditions, which is reflected not only in their choice of film technique but also in their ideas on revolutionary cinema. They believe that speaking about and showing the histories and culture of the people—who have been severely oppressed under the Syrian regime and are now threatened by Turkey—is inherently revolutionary.

On August 18, 2022, a Turkish drone killed Silava Remedan, its youngest actress, who starred in the movie at the age of eight. The drone bombed an UN-sponsored girls’ education centre in the village of Şemokê on the Hesekê-Til Temir Road. The attack killed 4 girls and injured 11 others. Said the Rojava Film Commune, “Our hearts and thoughts are with her family and the families of the martyrs that were taken from us prematurely at the hands of the Turkish regime, which continues its aggression and has stripped the people of Rojava of their rights to live freely and safely in their homeland.”