Gulîstan, Land of Roses
10 years. More than 800 films. A decade of emotional experiences shared on the big screen.
The projectors at our Centre d'art et essai have featured 500 Quebec films, 420 thought-provoking documentaries, and the visions of 260 women filmmakers. But above all, there's you. You have walked through our doors, driven by your curiosity and eager to connect with others. Thank you for being such a precious audience. Let’s keep dreaming together.
Special price of $10.
Get your pass to see all the films in this program for just $50!
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Zaynê Akyol, hosted by Bruno Dequen
Best New Talent From Québec/Canada, RIDM 2016
They belong to the armed wing of the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is also an active guerrilla movement. The mission of these female fighters? Defend Kurdish territory in Iraq and Syria, and defeat ISIS (the armed militants of the so-called Islamic State group), all while embodying a revolutionary ideal advocating female empowerment. As filmmaker Zaynê Akyol follows their highly regimented lives, seasoned fighters like Rojen and Sozdar openly share with us their most intimate thoughts and dreams.
Even as fighting against ISIS intensifies in the Middle East, these women bravely continue their battle against barbarism. Offering a window into this largely unknown world, Gulîstan, Land of Roses exposes the hidden face of this highly mediatized war: the female, feminist face of a revolutionary group united by a common vision of freedom.
Zaynê Akyol
A graduate of UQAM's École des médias, Zaynê Akyol won the Best Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award presented by the René-Malo Chair, associated with the National Film Board of Canada. She also completed a Master’s degree in Communications, with a specialization in cinema, focusing her research on relational and creative issues in documentary film. Juggling theory and practice, it was in 2016 that she directed her first feature-length documentary, Gulîstan, Land of Roses. This personal work was noticed by several international festivals and garnered over 80 selections, 50 nominations and 12 awards, including the prestigious Doc Alliance Award at the Locarno Film Festival. She also directed a second film on Kurdish territory, ROJEK, which won the Special Jury Prize at Hot Docs in 2022. Full of courage and determination, Zaynê Akyol says she wants to be a source of inspiration for young filmmakers, especially Middle Eastern women, so that they can realize their dreams and leave their mark on society.
