Our Jurors
NYKFF9 Film Selection Committee
Dr. Dilshad Mustafa Razawa
Assistant Professor
Dr. Dilshad studied media and film at the Universities of Salford and Wales in the UK and spent three decades in media as a program maker, documentary director, presenter, and film critic. He now heads the film department at the University of Silêmanî and since 2016 has taught film theory, visual culture, screenwriting, and film directing there. As a scholar of film, he has researched representation and identity, Kurdish discourse, the victims of Kurdish genocide, and violence between imagined and embodied images.
Dicle Arjîn
Filmmaker and Actor
Dicle Arjîn was born in Mardin in 1984 and is a film and stage actor. He played the leading characters in the films Berfin (2019) and Kobane (2023). He has also produced several films and continues to work in cinema today.
Bilal Korkut
Filmmaker
Bilal Korkut, born in Mêrdîn, grew up weaving stories rooted in Kurdish language and culture. He pursues big dreams by taking small, steady steps. His most recent film Bîraxane (The Hole in the Wall ) was screened at NYKFF7 and has been published as a book. He is currently developing new projects in Manchester, UK.
Dr. Kovan Hussein Saado
Dr. Kovan Hussein Saado worked in media for over two decades, serving as a television producer, news editor, presenter, and film critic. Since 2014 he has taught film theory, visual culture, and media genres at the University of Silêmanî, where he does critical research on media representation, identity in film, Kurdish media discourse, and cross-cultural film reception.
Numan Yiğit
Numan Yiğit, born in Adana, studied cinema and television at Ege University in Izmir. He was imprisoned for nearly five years for political reasons. After his release in July 2016, he continued his cinema work, directing and writing several documentary and fiction projects focusing on social reality, resistance, and cultural memory. Currently he continues his film work in Rojava.
Arad Hassanzadeh
Arad Hassanzadeh studied dramatic literature from Tehran Central University. Since 2013, he has taught film technique at the College of Fine Arts at Salahaddin University in Hêwler (Erbil), filmmaking at the University of Silêmanî, and media at Cihan University. He is actively involved in film and drama production in Erbil. He has translated several books and conducted research on film editing, photography, and filmmaking techniques.
Veysi Altay
Veysi Altay, born in 1976 in Agri, is known for his documentary films Faîlî Dewlet (The State Is the Perpetrator, 2012), Berxwedana 33 Salan: Dayika Berfo (33 Years of Resistance: Dayika Berfo, 2013), Nûjîn (New Life, 2017), and Bîr (Well, 2018). For many years he worked for Amnesty International and the Human Rights Association (IHD). During the battles against ISIS in Serêkaniyê (2013) and Kobanê (2014), he served as a journalist. He has worked as a Turkish-Kurdish interpreter and done archival research on landmines, lynching culture, nationalism, seasonal workers, and political disappearances. His book Em Ên Wenda (We the Missing) contains 100 photographs and stories of people disappeared by the state.
Shilan Saadi
Filmmaker and Producer
Shilan Saadi, born in 1980 in Mahabad, Rojhelat, and studied cinema at Sureh University in Tehran. As an independent filmmaker and producer, her films include Ciyaz (Dowry, 2004), Xeyali Winbu (The Lost Dream, 2006), Cil û Bergi Mukriyan (Mukrian’s Dresses, 2008), and An Alley Behind Our House (2011). Her films, which illuminate the challenges faced by Kurdish people and the struggles of Kurdish women,have earned numerous awards. She is currently supporting the emerging female Kurdish film directors of the Afran group.
Ekrem Heydo
Director
Ekrem Heydo, born in 1973 in Serêkaniyê, Rojava, studied camera and editing in Hanover, Germany, then directing at the Ruhr Academy for the Arts in Dortmund. He has lived and worked in Berlin since 2006. His first documentary, Halabja—The Lost Children, won several international awards. For his second film, My Paradise (2016), he returned to Serêkaniyê. A Bridge for Rojava is his new documentary.
Hiwa Mohammed Latif
Hiwa Mohammed Latif is an assistant lecturer in filmmaking at the College of Fine Arts at the University of Silêmanî. He was the writer and first assistant director for the 2023 feature film Shin (Sîn), a project that deepened his dedication to storytelling and collaboration in cinema. He believes film is a powerful cultural and social tool. Through teaching and creative work, he strives to help shape a strong, independent Kurdish cinema for future generations.
Janet Biehl
Janet Biehl, who works in book publishing, is the author of Ecology or Catastrophe: The Life of Murray Bookchin (2016). She translated (from German to English) Revolution in Rojava by Knapp et al. (2017) and Sakine Cansız’s memoir Sara (2018, 2019). She wrote and illustrated the graphic memoir Their Blood Got Mixed: Revolutionary Rojava and the War on ISIS (2022) and is featured in the associated film Threads of a Revolution (2024). She serves on the board of the NYKCC.
Metîn Ewr
Metîn Ewr, born in Amed (Diyarbakir) in 1978, worked in literature, language, and theater at the Mezopotamiya Center in Adana. In 2009 he returned to Amed, where he began his cinematic education. He wrote screenplays for Ax û Jiyan (Life and Land, 2010), Ref (Bevy, 2014), and Malîno (2015) and for the film 14 Tîrmehê (July 14, in 2017). His directing debut Çerx (The Wheel, 2021) was screened at NYKFF7.
Pedram Baldari
Pedram Baldari is an assistant professor of art and design at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. An interdisciplinary artist, architect, and scholar, he has exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum London, Documenta 13th Import-Export, Video Nomad Tokyo, Art Basel Switzerland, the Walker Art Museum, the Asheville Center for Craft, the Weisman Museum, the Plains Art Museum, and many other institutions and galleries worldwide. He has received awards from Delfina Foundation, Jerome Fellowship, StarDust Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell Foundation, Luksic Scholars Joint Research, Berlin BBA International Artist Prize, and Arts Research: Incubation & Acceleration. He is the 2025 Stamps School of Art and Design’s Rogers Edge Awardee for Interdisciplinary Creative Research.
Ranj Hikmat
Ranj Hikmat studied fine art at Middlesex University in London (2013) and currently teaches at the University of Silêmanî’s Visual Art Department. He is a multidisciplinary artist, whose practice explores social themes through a variety of media. Deeply committed to art’s role in society, he blends creative concepts with critical inquiry. His work engages with community and dialogue, reflecting a belief in art’s power to inspire awareness and change.
Sener Ozmen
(1971, Hezex, Şirnex, Northern Kurdistan). Kurdish new media artist & novelist.
Director of the Chicago-based Serbest Foundation. Ozmen’s short films and video works have been shown in the world’s most prestigious contemporary art museums and group exhibitions.
In 2016, he was a member of the jury of the Love & Change Film Competition at If Istanbul (If Istanbul International Independent Film Festival) with documentary director and screenwriter Adam Curtis (UK) and documentary filmmaker Philippa Kowarsky (Israel). In 2024, he was selected as a jury member for the NYKFF. In 2025, his Kurdish novel “The Comptetition of Unfinished Stories”, translated into English by Nicholas Glastonbury, was published by Sandrof Passage (NY) and his latest novel “Jiyana Asayî ya John Sanders” was published by Avesta Publishing.
Pejman Alipour
Director | Animator | Illustrator | Cartoonist
Pejman Alipour was born in 1975 in Sardasht, Rojhelat, and studied animation at Tehran Art University. He is currently based in Mahabad. As a director, writer, animator, illustrator, and cartoonist, he has created many animated films, which have won awards at numerous international film festivals. His film Where the Winds Die was selected by more than 150 international film festivals, including NYKFF8, and has won numerous awards.
Semiha Yıldız
Semiha Yıldız was born in 1994 in Şırnak and studied computer education and technology at İnönü University. Since 2016, she has been guided by her passion for animation, working as an animator at Zarok TV. Her first animated film, Cudîyê Miradan, received multiple awards for its creative storytelling. She is the podcast editor for Botan International and co-founded Your Frame Company. She is currently working on her next animation.
Hazhar Mohammed
Hazhar Mohammed attended the College of Fine Arts at the University of Silêmanî. Skilled in character design, he directed the 3D animated films Ahol, Qaetul, and Maxolan. He co-founded the Nergz Animation Studio and lives in Silêmanî.