Hamburg Kurdish festival crowns Iran’s ‘Khalil’, ‘The Plain Sings’
Two Iranian films ‘Khalil’ and ‘The Plain Sings’ won the top honors at the 16th Hamburg Kurdish Film Festival Awards, where organizers in Germany’s northern port city closed a five-day showcase of what they called cinema’s “courage” and “diversity”.
Seyed Payam Hosseini clinched the best short-film award with ‘Khalil,’ a tightly drawn drama he wrote, produced and directed.
The film follows a 13-year-old boy who frets over whether his late father’s soul reaches heaven or sinks into hell, pushing himself to “make sure” as he navigates grief.
The short features Taha Cheraghi, Omid Cheraghi, Taha Mohammadi, Hossein Moradi, Mousa Hedayati and Shobo Soleimani. Daricheh Cinema Group and Panah Film Institute handle its international rollout. The jury granted a special commendation to ‘The Plain Sings,’ Gita Feizi’s pastoral tale of a young shepherdess forced to take a consequential decision after a wolf tears into her flock.
The cast includes Darya Kakayi, Afshin Khedri, Sara Ahmadnejad and Saman Saed Moucheshi, with Daricheh Cinema Group overseeing global distribution.
HKFF, held from November 19 to 23 under the banner “Remembrance, Resistance, Insight: Cinema from the Heart of Diversity”, aimed to bring disparate cultures, generations and viewpoints into the same room. Organizers said the program sought to keep memories alive and build bridges between “past and future”.