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Director’s Profile

Hussein Hassan is a well-known director, writer and actor in Kurdistan.
His first feature film, Narcissus Blossom (2006), screened at the Toronto International Film Festival 2006, and in the Panorama at Berlin International Film Festival 2006, winning the Amnesty International Film Prize. His second feature film as writer and director, Herman (2009), premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2009 and his third feature, Reseba: The Dark Wind (2016), opened the Duhok International Film Festival 2016. Among other awards, the film received the Cultural Diversity Award under the patronage of UNESCO at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2016, the Muhr Award for Best Fiction Feature at Dubai International Film Festival 2016, a FIPRESCI Award at Dhaka International Film Festival 2017, and was the official Iraqi entry for the Academy Awards 2017.
Besides working on his own film projects, Hassan is also successful as an actor, playing the leading role in well-received films Crossing the Dust (Shawkat Amin Korki, 2006) and Memories on Stone (Shawkat Amin Korki, 2014), and also in the official Academy Awards 2014 entry from Iraq, Mardan (Batin Ghobadi, 2014).

Synopsis

In the midst of the 2014 ISIS attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan, young couple, Reber and Kajal, rehearse for a performance of traditional Kurdish tale, Mem Abassi.
Reber is a former deminer. After becoming a father, he quit the military and chose to keep Kurdish culture alive through Kurdish traditional folk dance. But when the region receives further imminent threats, Reber feels obliged to leave everything behind and support the frontline troops as a deminer. Kajal and their son, Mem, stay with Reber’s family.
One day the family receives shocking news from the frontlines. Reber’s unit suffered an ISIS attack. Reber is named as a martyr shortly afterwards. Out of cultural and social pressure, his brother, Dilo, takes responsibility for caring for Kajal and her son. Against her will, Kajal becomes engaged in a formal marriage with Dilo for the sake of her son. Over time, their shared responsibility for Mem deepens their feelings of mutual belonging.
As Kajal tries to build a new life, she follows her passion by leading the folk-dance group which has been severely weakened by the war-torn environment.
The Rain Bride explores the separations and changes that occur within family dynamics due to times of war. It is about love and loss within a society that is threatened with being wiped out culturally; a fight not only held on the frontlines but also within the community.

Achievements

2023 Goteborg Film Festival

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