7th Kurdish Film Festival in Cologne

From November 12 to 16, 2026, the Cologne Kurdish Film Festival will celebrate its seventh edition, bringing five days of Kurdish cinema to the city. The program features feature films, documentaries, and short films by Kurdish filmmakers from various regions and generations.

The festival will open on November 12 at the Filmforum NRW. Following a champagne reception at 6:15 p.m., the opening film, “The Phantom Pain of Rojava,” by Emmy Award-winning director Maryam Ebrahimi, will be screened at 7:00 p.m. Afterward, she will be available to answer questions from the audience during a Q&A session.

From November 13 to 16, the Filmhaus Köln will serve as the festival’s main venue. The films explore language, identity, memory, exile, and self-assertion, as well as family, friendship, love, humor, and everyday life. In this way, the festival showcases the diversity of Kurdish cinema and provides a space for Kurdish stories, languages, and perspectives.

Film discussions and other interactive events invite attendees to engage in conversation with filmmakers and fellow visitors. In this way, the Cologne Kurdish Film Festival becomes a place for exchange, new perspectives, and shared cinematic experiences.