On Friday, two Kurdish films won awards at the ninth edition of the Babel Film Festival in Cagliari, Italy.

On Friday, June 13, the awards ceremony of the Babel Film Festival took place at EXMA in Via San Lucifero, Cagliari, hosted by Renzo Cugis and Alessia Simoncelli, according to the Italian media outlet Unione Sarda.

Among the 61 selected films – including 19 feature films, 9 documentaries, and 33 short films from 18 countries and in 38 different languages – the Maestrale Awards were presented to two Kurdish films.

The first film, When the Walnut Leaves Turn Yellow by Mehmet Ali Konar, won Best Feature Film for its portrayal of civilians caught in the conflict between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish army in Northern Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey).

The second film, Dartas – Carpenter by Xelil Sehragerd, won Best Documentary for its moving depiction of Hussein Mahmood, a Kurdish carpenter who builds artificial legs for people in Eastern Kurdistan (northwestern Iran) who have lost their limbs.

The Babel Film Festival is the first international film competition dedicated exclusively to works that give voice to linguistic and cultural minorities, like the Kurds.

According to the festival’s website, the aim of the Babel Film Festival is also to become an annual event for the city of Cagliari, the Sardinian capital, to create a place for discussion and exchange where diverse communities can meet, talk to and seek to understand each other.