There will be four jury panels to evaluate the full-length feature and documentary competitions, as well as the short feature and documentary competitions.
The IV Moscow Kurdish film festival headed by Kerem Gerdenzeri, under the management of Gulizer Gerdenzeri - Inna Tedzhoeva, with the aim of reflecting the culture, history and preserving the national identity and mother tongue of the Kurds and the modern life of this nation.
It will also be held from September 18 to 22, 2024 in the city of Moscow in the Russian Federation with the screening of the feature film competition, full-length documentary competition, of the short fiction film competition and the short documentary competition.
In particular, the best feature film will be selected by director, screenwriter and producer Angelina Nikonova, who shot "Portrait in the Twilight", the international premiere of which took place at the Venice Film Festival, as well as "Welcome Home" and "Has Anyone Seen My Girl?"; actress and director Lyanka Gryu, known for her roles in the films "Children Under 16", "The Return of the Musketeers" and the TV series "Barvikha" and "Sherlock Holmes". The chairman of the jury will be the producer of feature films and documentaries, as well as TV series Maxim Dobromyslov, who worked on the projects "The Meaning of Life", "Russia-Odyssey", "Interseason. Saga of Youth".
The jury of the Full-length Documentary Competition includes Greek geographer-humanitarian, journalist and director Thomas Sideris, who has received more than 40 international awards and prizes for his research work in the field of documentary films, and journalist and documentary film director Mizgin Arsalan from the UK, whose first full-length film "I Flew, You Stayed" received the "Best Documentary of the Year" award from the Turkish Film Critics Association, as well as the Grand Prix at the Documentary Film Festival in Amed and the Mirella Galletti Award in Italy.
The chairman of the jury is director, screenwriter and producer of documentary and feature films Ivan Bolotnikov, whose filmography includes "On the Line of the Game", "John the Baptist", "The Ideal Museum". For the feature film "Harms", he was awarded two "Golden Cups" at the Shanghai International Film Festival, and the film "Palmyra" was filmed, among other places, in Turkish Kurdistan.
The jury of the Short Fiction Film Competition was headed by producer Elena Glikman, who worked on the films "Piter FM", "Spitak", "On the Edge", "White Road!" and others.
The jury also included Kurdish producer, editor and director Fekri Baroshi, known for the films "The Dream Before Death" and "In the Lion's Den", as well as world-famous Yazidi director Navzad Shehani, who is a laureate of the "Jean Luc Godard Award" and made a documentary about the Yazidi genocide "Black Massacre", which was included as an important contemporary document in the register of the International Criminal Court.
The short documentary competition will be judged by actress, director and writer Rugesh Kirici, who works in Kurdish theater and cinema and has starred in the films “The Long Night”, “The Hard Decision”, “Acorn”, “Mother Elif”, and Syrian director and screenwriter Shero Hinde, whose film “Love in the Face of Genocide” won the Audience Award at the London Film Festival and whose film “The Story of Destroyed Cities” won the Grand Prix at the Mexico Film Festival. The jury will be chaired by Kurdish film editor Loghman Sokhanvar, who has participated in many famous Kurdish and Iranian films - “The Sound of Rain”, “The Team”, “Tanya”.
The Feature Film Competition included 7 full-length films, the Documentary Competition - 8 films, the Short Film Section - 15 feature films and 9 documentaries.
This year, the festival focuses on intercultural dialogue in general and cooperation with Russia. Continuing the traditions of previous years, as part of the cultural exchange, the festival will once again bring together filmmakers and film lovers from all over the world to show true masterpieces of Kurdish cinema. A special focus is on films about the Yazidis and their ancient Mesopotamian religion. The geography of the participants is very diverse - the programs include films from 12 countries: Iraq, Turkey, Iran, France, Syria, Canada, the Netherlands, etc.
Golden Sun Crystal Award
The presenter recalled that the festival prize is called “Golden Sun”. The sun is the ancient religious and cultural symbol of all Kurds. The sun is a symbol of creative energy, the supreme deity and the embodiment of its all-pervading power.
The festival screenings will take place in Moscow cinemas (venues will be announced later). All films will be shown in the original language with Russian subtitles.