The third annual Amsterdam Kurdish Film Festival (AKFF) will take place from May 10-12 in the Ketelhuis in Amsterdam, where the latest feature films, documentaries, animations, and short films from or about Kurdistan will be presented. 

AKFF’s mission is to present Kurdish films to audiences in the Netherlands, starting with Amsterdam. It hopes to grow into a leading festival in the Netherlands in the field of Kurdish cinema.

AKFF Artistic Director Reber Dosky told Kurdistan Chronicle that the festival aims to build a bridge between Kurdish and Dutch cultures.

“The main theme this year is Western Kurdistan (northern Syria), last year it was Eastern Kurdistan (northwestern Iran). Every year we talk about a part of Kurdistan. Next year it will focus on Southern Kurdistan (Kurdistan Region of Iraq),” Dosky said. 

“We started organizing this festival in 2022. This year is the third edition. The audience is a mix of both Kurds and Dutch people. Our goal is to build a bridge between those two cultures.”

Over the last years, a large number of Kurdish film festivals have been organized across Kurdistan, as well as in Europe and the United States.

“AKFF sees Kurdish cinema as an ever-developing and evolving reflection of society in Kurdistan and an expression of its rich culture,” the AKFF website reads. “In this, the festival deliberately makes no distinction between pop culture and niche, striving to fully represent the diverse Kurdish identity, as far as the existing films allow.”

Read More: Third Edition of Paris Kurdish Film Festival to be Held in May

In France, the third edition of the Paris Kurdish Film Festival will take place from April 9-13, organized by the Kurdish Institute of Paris and Franco-Kurdish film association CineBej.