Kurdish filmmakers call for conference

The Kurdish Globe


The Ministry of Culture must become more engaged, say directors

Erbil's Short-Film Festival turns into a tougher discussion about Kurdish directors and the cinema itself.

Day two of the Erbil Short-Film Festival turned into a heated debate as the crowd began arguing about problems. Well-known Kurdish film director Bahman Ghobadi described Kurdish cinema as "a child who does not have a mother and father." Ghobadi said the child will collapse if no one holds his hands and takes care of him. "There is a great opportunity in front of the Kurdish cinema because Kurdish cinema has its own signature and culture." Ghobadi also criticized officials in Iraqi Kurdistan Region for not seriously developing Kurdish cinema.

The crowd remarked that the KRG does not have a clear vision regarding Kurdish cinema, and called for an immediate conference with the attendance of government officials to discuss the problems. "It is a good thing to hold a conference, because we need politicians and government officials to listen to us; our biggest problem is that no one listens to us," said Shakhawan Edrees, General Director of Erbil Cinema at the Ministry of Culture.

Edrees noted that eight months ago he was nominated to become the General Director of Erbil Cinema, but he has not had the opportunity to talk with the Minister of Culture for even one hour to discuss issues regarding his department. He admitted that the government has a good budget for the cinema, but it won't distribute the money fairly due to nepotism.

Not only the government, but film directors faced criticism by festival attendances. One attendee complained that Kurdish film directors make films only to show them in the festivals in other countries, not for people in Kurdistan. "Why does the government give money to directors to make films while the directors never show their films to the people of Kurdistan," asked the attendee. The director asked how they could show their films to people in Kurdistan when there are no cinema halls in the region.

Kurdish directors have made a remarkable number of films, and many of them have received international awards. Most have been shown at film festivals in other countries, particularly in Europe, while people in Kurdistan have yet to see many of them.

Erbil city used to have four cinema halls, one of which was destroyed; another was sold. Only two remain open. However, they are suffering financially and may not be open much longer. Meanwhile, the current cinemas in Erbil have bad reputations because they showed pornography in the '90s. Now people rarely visit these cinemas. In addition, there is no plan by the government or private companies to build new cinema halls.

At the Third Erbil Short Film Festival, 15 short films and six documentary films were presented. An independent committee will evaluate all the films, and the best one will receive the Golden Oak Award.

Kurdistan Local NGOs cry for more independence

By Qassim Khidhir
The Kurdish Globe

NGOs seek a new commission to be their watchdog

Local NGOs in Iraqi Kurdistan Region want an independent commission and not the government to organize and observe their work.

More than 80 nongovernmental organizations in Kurdistan Region held a two-day conference from April 25-26 to discuss a draft law about NGOs in Kurdistan that was prepared by Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Planning.

The conference was organized by Future Centre for Youth Issues (a Kurdish NGO), and the NGOs participating in the conference were from the three Kurdistan Region provinces of Erbil, Suleimaniya, and Duhok.

Participants criticized the Ministry of Planning for preparing the NGO draft law without consulting any actual NGOs. Currently, local NGOs in Kurdistan Region are getting licenses, registrations, and basic endowments for accommodations from the Ministry of Interior.

Now if a group of people (no less than five) decide to establish an NGO in Kurdistan Region, they must first visit the ministry to obtain a license, and it can sometimes take more than a year to get the license. After getting licenses, NGO then must register and the ministry gives the NGO monthly money, mainly for renting an office. According to the NGO activists, the government does not treat all the NGOs equally in terms of the endowment.

"Some NGOs gets 1 million dinars (US$850) from the government, while there are NGOs that get more than 1 million dinars, some between 10 to 20 million dinars. Not because they are very active or they are better than other NGOs, but just because they are closer to the government or a party favored by the government," said Ali Kareem, NGO activist.

Regarding the draft law, Dr. Wahdi Suleiman Mizuri, professor at Duhok University said: "There is no guarantee that this draft law can protect the independency of the NGOs." Dr. Mizuri explained that the draft law will put NGOs under control of the government, since the law states that NGOs should be under the observation of the Ministry of Interior.

All NGOs at the conference agreed they wanted out from under government control, and they are calling for a higher independent commission to be formed to observe and organize the work of the NGOs-and the works of the commission should be monitored by Kurdistan Region's Parliament.

"It is better for Kurdistan Region's Parliament to monitor the work of the suggested commission than the government, because Parliament represents all people and political parties in Kurdistan," said Aram Jamal, NGO activist.

Ali Kareem explained that the suggested commission will be like USAID (United States Agency for International Development) or SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency), where all NGOs to get donations from and are monitored by the commission.

Kareem added that if the government does not agree to let NGOs out from under its control, NGOs will continue to resist and complain. The NGOs are also demanding that the government allocate two percent of Kurdistan Region's general budget every year to develop the region through NGOs. "It has been proved that if a government in any country in the world tries to run the country without the help of NGOs and private investors, it will not be successful," said Kareem.
"To protect the NGOs

Some of the NGOs in the region are here in name alone; they perform no activities and people don't even know they exist. They take money from the government for accommodations, and use their offices for relaxation.

At the conference, the majority of the NGOs decided that the allotment of money should be based on project proposals. "If getting a donation is based on a good project proposal, then eventually those NGOs that are not active will close their offices," said Sirwan Abbas, head of Future Centre for Youth Issues.