The Rojava International Film Festival and the burning of Amûde's cinema
Today, November 13, 2020, the new edition of the Rojava International Film Festival should have been held, the last edition of which in 2019 was cancelled due to the Turkish occupation of Serekaniye, events you may have already heard about. read on these pages.
The 2020 edition of the RIFF was canceled not only due to the persistent threats of war, but also due to the restrictions imposed in that area by the resurgence of Covid-19.
WATCH THE REVIEW STREEEN OF THE ROJAVA FILM FESTIVAL
For the occasion, on this page, created in collaboration with the Rojava Film Commune, Banos Film, and Global Rights/Global Rights, you will find images, videos, and stories from the Rojava Film Festival and why November 13th was chosen as the symbolic opening date for the festival: on November 13, 1960, in the town of Amude, Syrian Kurdistan, a massive fire broke out in a cinema during a school screening, killing over 280 children, a tragedy that remains etched in the collective memory of those territories to this day.
Rojava International Film Festival
After the outbreak of the so-called Syrian civil war (March 2011), the nations living in the territories of northeastern Syria, Rojava, launched a revolution that radically transformed the social and political structures of the entire region.
A democratic system of self-government (the Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria - Rojava) was established and has governed those territories since 2013, through a model called Democratic Confederalism.
After the outbreak of the so-called Syrian civil war (March 2011), the nations living in the territories of northeastern Syria, Rojava, launched a revolution that radically transformed the social and political structures of the entire region.
A democratic system of self-government (the Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria - Rojava) was established and has governed those territories since 2013, through a model called Democratic Confederalism.
Deeply inspired by the values of cultural sovereignty, feminist values, and community, this political project has challenged the patriarchal system, strengthened ethnic and religious minorities, as well as grassroots movements, and promoted the opening of local democratic spaces. The Rojava International Film Festival (https://rojavaiff.com/ e http://banosfilm.com/kobane-film-festival/) was born in the context of the Rojava Revolution in 2016 under the name Rojava Film Festival.
In 2018 the festival was renamed Kobane International Film Festival (http://banosfilm.com/2018-edition/) because it was celebrated for the first time in the city of Kobane which three years earlier, in January, had been liberated by the YPG-YPJ (People's and Women's Defense Units) after four months of resistance against the siege of the Islamic State.
In 2019, the fourth edition, it will take the name of Rojava International Film Festival again. Like every year, the festival was supposed to open on November 13th, in homage to the 282 children who died in the fire at the cinema in the city of Amude (http://rojavaiff.com/a-historical-date/), in Rojava, on November 13, 1960. The 2019 edition of the festival could not take place due to the occupation of Serekaniye launched by Turkey and its mercenaries on October 9, 2019
Komîna Fîlm a Rojava (Rojava Film Commune), a grassroots institution founded by local filmmakers and supporters of the revolution in 2015 with the aim of developing the cinema of the revolution and the festival's organizer, has decided to organize a mini-edition of the festival "in exile." Dozens of cities across Europe organized exile openings of the festival on November 13, 2019.
This year, 2020, Turkey's constant threats of war have been compounded by restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Amude Cinema Fire
On November 13, 1960, hundreds of Kurdish students, most of them under the age of 14, died in the fire at the Amûde cinema in Rojava. At least 282 children died in the fire.
The director of the Amûde district had ordered that all elementary school students be taken to a screening of a film about Algeria (there are differing versions of the film shown that Sunday). Algeria was then fighting for independence from France, and the proceeds from the film were intended for the benefit of Algerians.
It was the last screening of the day, and about 500 children had been crammed into the cinema's wood, straw, and clay structure, designed to hold 200 people.
The projector had been running all day to show the film to hundreds of other kids. During that final screening, it apparently overheated, catching fire and setting the screening room ablaze. The flames quickly spread throughout the building.
The children understandably panicked and tried to escape, falling and tripping over each other. The cinema doors swung inward, and with the children crowded inside, they couldn't be opened. There were no firefighters in Amûde; those called from Qamişlo and Heseke arrived too late.
