The 8th FilmAmed Documentary Film Festival started with the opening film, “Zimanê Dakike” by by Sarkew Mesgarî.

Organized by the Middle East Cinema Academy Association, the festival will run until 1 October at Amed City Theater.

Participants from Rojhilat and Europe, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) co-chair Saliha Aydeniz, Greens Left Party MP Meral Danış Beştaş and many citizens attended the opening.

Speaking at the opening, director Metin Ewr said: “We took a break for a while due to reasons beyond our control. But today we are with you again with the contribution of our art lovers. We will show the situation of our country in these documentaries. They want to destroy our country through plunder. Censorship shows how important our work is. FilmAmed is a stance against censorship and plunder, because it resists them. There have been attacks on Yılmaz Güney lately. Yılmaz Güney is a resisting director, a stance in cinema. We are loyal to his identity. As he said, ‘we will win no matter what.’ No matter what, free cinema will win.”

After the speeches, the movie “Zimanê Dayikê” directed by Sarkew Mesgarî was screened. The film tells the story of civil society activists and teachers trying to help children and students who are deprived of their right to learn Kurdish in Rojhilat.

Filmamed Festival

The festival, which was held between 18-24 April 2011 for the first time under the name of “Diyarbakır Documentary Days”, opened with the 1982 production of “Em Kurd”.

40 films selected from the nearly 70 films submitted were screened for a week. The festival was dedicated to a social issue each year and continued despite the many difficulties.

34 films screened at the 2nd Filmamed Documentary Film Festival, organized by Peyas Municipality in May 2012, were dedicated to 34 people who were killed by Turkish warplanes in Roboski on 28 December 2011. The third festival was dedicated to Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez, who were murdered in Paris with the slogan “Women’s freedom struggle towards free cinema”. The fourth festival, which was held in Amed between 24 and 29 May 2016 with the slogan “Everywhere is resistance, everywhere is cinema”, was dedicated to Islam Balıkesir, who died in Cizre.

Due to the arrest of Amed Peyas Municipality co-mayor Mehmet Ali Aydın on 6 December 2016 and the appointment of a trustee, the festival could not be held in 2017. For this reason, the 6th festival was held between 23 and 27 May 2018 with the slogan “Get Your Film and Come”. In the festival, which took place for the 7th time between 8 and12 May 2019, two topics, women and migration, came to the fore.