The fifth edition of the annual New York Kurdish Film Festival took place partly online (due to the pandemic) and partly at the Angelika Theater in Greenwich Village on September 10-12, 2021. It offered a range of films, long and short, fiction and documentary, that focus on Kurdish women and their efforts to create a more humane and just society in regions where Kurds live.

The films screened were:

Colorless Dream (Renksiz Rüya), directed by Mehmet Ali Konar (2018, fiction)

The End Will Be Spectacular (Ji Bo Azadiyê), directed by Ersin Çelik (2019, fiction), followed by a Q&A with the director

Gönderen: İlhan Sami Çomak, directed by Çiğdem Mazlum and Sertaç Yıldız (2016, documentary, biography)

I Am Wounded (Brîndarim), directed by Orkan Bayram (2020, documentary)

I Will Wait, directed by Mohammed Sherwani (2019, drama, short)

Karnika, written and directed by Meryem Semedi (2021, fiction, short)

Love in the Face of Genocide, directed by Şêro Hindê (2020, documentary), followed by a Q&A with the director

New Life, directed by Veysi Altay (2017, documentary)

The Return: Life After ISIS, directed by Alba Sotorra (2021, documentary), followed by a recorded message from the director

Sea Swells, The, directed by Emir Ghulami (short)

Sisters Apart, directed by Daphne Charizani (2020, fiction).

Summer of the Swans, directed by Meryem Semedi (short)

Additional events:

Book talk by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, author of Daughters of Kobani (2021)

Book talk by Ava Homa, author of Daughters of Smoke and Fire (2020)

Poetry reading by Aracelis Girmay

Poetry reading by Fexri Şeker

Musical performance by Lukman Ahmad

Musical performance by Ozan Aksoy, ethnomusicologist, instrumentalist, and vocalist