JIYAN aka LIFE

Year: 2001
UK: Rio Cinema Distribution
Cast: Kurdo Galali, Choman Hawrami, Pirshang Berzinji, Derya Qadir, Enwer Shexani
Director: Jano Rosebiani
Countries: Kurdistan / USA
Language: Kurdish (English subtitles)
UK: 99 mins
UK Certificate: 12A contains moderately distressing scenes
UK Release Date: 14 February 2003

Synopsis

On March 16 1988, 5,000 Kurdish residents of Halabja, formerly in Northern Iraq, were killed during a chemical and biological weapons attack by Saddam Hussein's airforce. Five years later, Diyari, a Kurdish-American returns to the region to build an orphanage in the town. Here he befriends two children but especially Jiyan, who is now disfigured with facial burns from this outrageous attack. The film details the hardship suffered by the Kurds but also reveals a latent undercurrent that there is some hope that the Kurds can restore their lives in the future.