Active Kurdish Cinema Archive

This aims to be a comprehensive digital active Kurdish Cinema Archive. Active because an archive is not “just” a box to fill with films produced and made by Kurdish directors. The Kurds, a nation divided into 4 states (Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria) plus the diaspora, are building their own collective memory, history, culture and therefore the archive will be a “living” space (through this website) connecting Kurds, academics, cinema lovers, scholars, directors, producers among each others and connected to Kurdish society everywhere.

This archive is a laboratory, an experimental project which will not only collect the rich cinema production by Kurdish directors but that will also move around the world promoting this
production, offering academics and scholars material to write about, propose and tell the collective memory the Kurds are building.

Archives, just like museums or libraries, are agents which contribute to the creation of a nation’s cultural memory.

The Kurdish Film Archive will:

• Facilitate access and dissemination of Kurdish films worldwide, mediation of audiences, and solicitation of film agents, film critics and film scholars;
• Serve the production of knowledge around Kurdish cinema, past, present and future, and to preserve film heritage, film culture and the social history of cinema by creating digital reference libraries that list Kurdish films and information regarding access as well as references for scholarship on Kurdish cinema in as many languages as possible;
• Create bridges among the dispersed community of Kurdish cinema across the world while acknowledging and celebrating its achievements and mobilizing philanthropic resources;
• Provide tools and resources for developing strategies that empower visibility, promotion and marketing for addressing the challenges of the digital platform.
• Initiate coordination, partnerships and collaborations within the network of existing Kurdish film labs, workshops, festivals and pedagogical programs;
• Enable access to international experts and mediate between Kurdish film professionals and local, regional and international festivals, industry events and marketplaces. This is
  accomplished by participating in such events, and as an independent professional body that supports the presence of film talent;
• Develop Kurdish film talent (in all aspects of the craft) by providing training programs, workshops and seminars in the creation, production, promotion and distribution of Kurdish
  cinema;
• Empower production using the organization’s network with structures of support worldwide, creating a database of grant-making institutions and residencies, and providing expertise
  support in coproduction agreements.