Shawkat Amin Korki
Shawkat Amin Korki was born in 1973. Originally from Zakho, Iraqi Kurdistan, he and his family fled from Iraqi military oppression to Iran in 1975, where they lived in exile for 25 years. Korki studied Cinema in Iran. During his years in Iran and then when he returned to Iraqi Kurdistan, he began to work for the theatre, television and the cinema. His short films, made between 1997 and 2005, have been presented at many international festivals, winning awards and to an excellent reception. In 2002, he helped organize the first Erbil Short Film Festival. Crossing the Dust, his debut feature film, gained international recognition in 2006 and premiered at Rotterdam international film festival. Korki’s greatest success to this date has been Memories on Stone (2014), the official Oscar entry from Iraq. His movies have been presented at world famous film festivals such as Karlovy Vary, Busan, Cairo, Edinburgh, Tallinn, Göteborg, Hong Kong and many more in the past.
Filmography
2021 THE EXAMN
2014 MEMORIES ON STONE
2009 KICK OFF
2006 CROSSING THE DUST (Parinawa la Ghobar)
short films:
2003 THREAT (Gef)
2002 PASSAGE (Bazgeh)
2000 WHEN IT RAINS (Dema Baran Bet)
1998 TRAP DOOR (Daricheh)
1997 BALLOONS FLY (Seode Badkonakha)
The Exam (2021)
Rojin, a heartbroken young woman who is suffering from depression after the disappearance of her fiance, is preparing for her university entrance exam. If she fails, her father will force her into marriage. If she succeeds, however, she might lead a more emancipated life and avoid the fate of her older sister Shilan, who is unhappily married to a conservative man who demands her to be a proper housewife. Seeing that her younger sister struggles to achieve that dream, Shilan becomes desperate to make her pass the exam by any means necessary. More
Memories On Stone (2014)
Movie director Hussein would like to shoot a film in his homeland of Iraqi Kurdistan about the Anfal military operation of the 1980s that led to the murder of more than 182,000 Kurds. The viewer follows the entire crew’s efforts to achieve the goal of making the film despite the numerous problems that accompany the shoot. More
Kick Off (2009)
Director Shawkat Amin Korki uses a new method to tell the story of the tragedy of war. Inside a beat up stadium in Kirkuk, Iraq, lives many refugees trying to escape Sadam Hussein’s administration. Asu lives with his younger brother who has lost his legs from a landmine. Next door lives Hilin, who has not been able to express her feelings. One of the only sources of happiness for these people who live amid fear of poverty and bombings is soccer. Asu gathers together the Kurdish, Arabs and Turkish in order to hold a soccer match. More
Crossing the Dust (2006)
The gripping story of two Kurdish soldiers, Asad and Rashid, who celebrate with their comrades the downfall of Saddam on 9th April 2003 before being ordered to take food supplies to another remote part of the country. As they hit the road, they come across a lost 7-year-old arab boy called Saddam crying at the side of a highway. They decide to save him and protect him until they find his parents. In the process one of them gets killed. More
