Lilon International Film Festival ends in IDP camp outside of Syria’s Afrin

ALEPPO COUNTRYSIDE, Syria (North Press) – On Sunday, the Lilon International Film Festival in the northern countryside of Aleppo concluded its first session with the announcement of the names of the winning films, amid an artistic ceremony and public attendance.

The ceremony began with the screening of a song for Lilon Festival called Risala Lilon(Lilon’s Message), in three languages, Kurdish, Arabic, and English, after which a video was shown about festival preparations.

Jenkin Abdo, a member of festival’s Preparatory Committee, told North Press that the siege imposed on the northern countryside of Aleppo and IDPs camps of Afrin prevented the jury from attending.

A number of participating film directors and producers were unable to attend the festival due to the bombing of the area and the siege imposed on it by the Syrian government.

Muhyiddin Arslan, a member of the festival’s Preparatory Committee, told North Press that “many Syrian friends and international filmmakers” wanted to attend the festival, but the bombing of the Turkish-backed opposition and the siege of the Syrian government on the region “prevented that.”

Abdo added that they were forced to announce the results online.

Berivan Kalushu, who was displaced from her native Afrin following a Turkish invasion and occupation of the region in 2018, said that she followed the festival on a daily basis.

“We didn’t expect, amid this situation, living in IDP camps, to present such a festival inside the camp; all the films touch our reality and the conditions we live in,” Kalushu added.

Many international and local films that were shown at the festivals won prizes and trophies.

The film al-Aouda (Return) by Kurdish director Suleiman Deniz won the Best Short Film award among 45 participating short films.

The best documentary award went to Iranian director Amir Osdalo for his movie The Old Man and the Singer, while Iranian director Linda Fazli won the award for best length animation for her movie This One and the Other.

As for the local awards, the award for best directing went to Towards the Sun by director Zilan Suleiman, also an IDP from Afrin. Return also won the award for best acting role for the role of Anahita in the film.

The best production award was given to the movie For Freedom (li Ajel al-Huria), which was filmed in Kobani in 2018.

Jenkin Abdo, expressed his hope that the second iteration of the festival would be held in Afrin, which has been controlled by Turkish-backed Syrian militias since March 2018.

Lilon International Film Festival began last week with the screening of a short film entitled Kurdê (Kurdish Girl), in which the late Afrini artist Bave Salah acted.

Reporting by Dejla Khalil