Documentary film, directed by Sarah Guillemet and Leïla Porcher. Co-produced by France Télévisions and Sister Productions. With the support of the CNC, the New Aquitaine region, the SUD Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, the PROCIREP and the ANGOA.
Festival selections and awards:
- Fronts Populaires — Cinéma du réel (Paris, France), 2020
- Official selection — FIGRA (International Festival of Current Affairs Reporting) (Touquet-Paris-Plage, France), 2020
- Out of Competition section dedicated to young audiences — FIFF (Festival International du Film Francophone) (Namur, France), 2020
- Official selection — Festival Chantiers Réels (Marseille, France), 2020
- Out of Competition selection — Les Escales Documentaires (La Rochelle, France), 2020
- Official Selection — Les Écrans Documentaires (Arcueil, France), 2020
- Opening of Documentary Film Month — Cinéma Eden (La Ciotat, France), 2020
- Documentary Film Month — CINA (Cinémas Indépendants de Nouvelle-Aquitaine (La Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France), 2020
- Official Selection (in competition) — Traces de Vie (Clermont-Ferrand, France), 2020
- ‘Regards de terrain’ Selection — Jean Rouch Festival (Paris, France), 2020
- Official Selection — Autrans International Mountain Film Festival (Autrans, France), 2020
- ‘Docs au Féminin’ Selection — Comptoir du Doc (Rennes, France), 2021
- Official Selection — Douarnenez Film Festival/Gouel ar filmoù (Douarnenez, France), 2021
- Documentary Film Month — Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region (Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France), 2021
- Documentary Film Month — Brittany Region (Brittany, France), 2021
- Official Selection — Le Grand Bivouac (Albertville, France), 2021
In the heights of the mountains between Iraq and Iran, outside the war front, Hélia and Sama have made a choice: to join to become peshmerga, “those who face death”, the name given to Kurdish fighters. In the mud as in the snow, moments of blissful madness and surpassing oneself are followed by moments of despair and outbursts.
Engaged with their twenty male comrades in this adventure, they begin their training, which will last three months, in the camp of Komala. This Kurdish opposition party, entrenched in the mountains between Iran and Iraq, has been organizing itself clandestinely and waging a guerrilla war for decades against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s fierce repression of the Kurdish minority.
In the course of this apprenticeship, they confront the contradictions of a male-led institution. Having a gun in hand does not lead to certain equality.
The meeting with Kawsar – a teacher of their political and military training – who works for the rights of Kurdish women both in Iran and inside Komala is then central. Would her election to the highest committee of the party be a revolution for the place of women? Who said that an institution run by men should remain so?
Together, Sama and Kawsar will fight to the end. Helia seems to have taken a different path.