ERBIL, Kurdistan region - Kurdish diaspora in Canada’s Vancouver is preparing for the second edition of an annual film festival scheduled to be held in October.
“Over 200 Kurdish films were submitted, and from those, 22 films were selected to represent Kurdish cinema, culture, and language in Canada,” Rikan Sayda, operations manager for the festival told Rudaw on Wednesday.
The festival will be held between October 17-19 and “the theme of the Vancouver Kurdish Film Festival for 2025 is ‘Mother Tongue,’ highlighting the role of women in storytelling in Kurdish cinema” Sayda elaborated.
The festival’s goal, according to Sayda, is for the “audiences from diverse cultures and backgrounds to discover Kurdish Cinema.”
The films will compete for four awards: Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Jury Award, and Audience Award, said the official from the event, adding that “the festival jury consists of several Canadian and Kurdish filmmakers.”
The festival is sponsored by Kurdish businesspeople in Vancouver, as last year but this year the mayor’s office was a main sponsor of the event.
“This year the City of Vancouver became one of the main sponsors. This is the first time the city has sponsored a festival that is only in its second edition,” explained Sayda, adding that “city of Vancouver’s office of the Mayor has thanked us for the event.”
Besides Canada and the United States, Kurdish Diaspora in many other European cities organize Kurdish film festivals such as London, Berlin, Stockholm, Birmingham and Hamburg.