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Director’s Profile

Born in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1973, Shawkat Amin Korki and his family fled from military oppression in 1975, living in exile in Iran for 24 years.
During his years in Iran, and later when he returned to Iraqi Kurdistan, he worked in theatre, television and cinema. His short films have been presented at several international festivals, winning awards.
Korki wrote, produced and directed his first feature film, Crossing the Dust (2006), in Iraqi Kurdistan; which won many international prizes, including Best Director and NETPAC Awards at Singapore International Film Festival 2007.
His second feature, Kick Off (2009), won twelve international awards, including the Busan International Film Festival 2009 New Currents Award and FIPRESCI Award. His third feature, Memories on Stone (2014), won fifteen awards internationally, such as Best Film from the Arab World at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2014 and the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2014 UNESCO Award.
Nowadays, he lives and works in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan.

Synopsis

If Rojin doesn’t pass the university entrance exam, she will have to go through with an arranged marriage. If she does get in, she will be free. For Rojin’s older sister Shilan, who is suffering at the hands of a despotic husband, the idea that she might not get through is inconceivable, so she makes every effort to ensure Rojin succeeds. There is no way she will allow her sister to meet the same fate as her. Yet every well-meant action just brings further problems… Set in war-torn Iraqi Kurdistan, Shawkat Amin Korki’s drama boldly examines a theme deliberately ignored in Middle Eastern cinema – the subject of women’s rights: their entitlement not only to education, but also to make decisions about their own lives.

Achievements

2021 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival - FIPRESCI Critics Award
2021 Busan International Film Festival
2022 Santa Barbara International Film Festival - Jeffrey C. Barbakow Award
Released in Taiwan

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