Komîna Fîlm a Rojava

Founded in 2015, admidst the Syrian Civil War, Komîna Fîlm a Rojava (“Rojava Film Commune”), a Kurdish collective, operates as both a production house and film academy under the autonomous administration of Rojava. For over a decade, Komîna Fîlm a Rojava has been dedicated to producing revolutionary films and grassroots cinema to document the Rojava Revolution and fight for feminist, ecological, anti-war, and anti-capitalist values in Northeast Syria.

Their work centers on capturing the region’s radical social transformations, including the women-led, democratic confederalism model and the local population’s sustained resistance against the proliferation of ISIS. The commune— one of many in the region— trains marginalized groups (particularly women and youth) in cinematography, scripting, and editing to democratize the means of storytelling. Their films blend vérité footage with allegorical narratives, often shot guerilla-style in active conflict zones. The collective also organizes mobile cinema screenings in refugee camps and frontline communities.

Notable projects include The End of the World (2023), a feature film dramatizing the 2014 Kobanî resistance, and collaborative documentaries like Jîn, Jiyan, Azadî (2023) exploring the Kurdish feminist movement. Notably, in 2020, Komîna Fîlm a Rojava hosted Forms of Freedom, an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova in Slovenia. In 2021, Komîna Fîlm a Rojava’s Dema Dirîreşkan (Blackberry Season) earned the Best Cinematography award at the Sulaymaniyah International Film Festival, and subsequently declined it in protest after their other film (Ji bo Azadiyê) was abruptly banned from the festival. In 2022, Komîna Fîlm curated a film program for Documenta Fifteen, screening their archival and new works, hosting discussions, and producing an exclusive educational video installation about their commune for the event. Most recently, Komîna Fîlm a Rojava’s 2022 film Gava Şitil Mezin Dibin (When the Seedlings Grow) won the Best International Feature Film award at the Human Rights Film Festival in Colombia, the Best Fiction Feature award at the Montecine Montevideo World Film Festival in Uruguay, and the Best Film award at the the SKIP CITY International D-Cinema Festival in Japan.