ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An on-screen kiss between Hero Hassanzade and Muhammad Sherwani is more than Kurdish cinema’s first overtly intimate scene: It is one of the daring ways in which Iraq’s traditional Kurdish society is changing.
A controversy over the kiss, in Iraqi Kurdish director Idris Shakhawan’s upcoming Simai Kholamesh (The Image of Ash), is not the only debate over intimacy and its place in Kurdistan’s conservative and largely Sunni Muslim society.
Last month the destruction of a sculpture to love in Sulaimani’s Azadi Park – abstractly depicting a kiss -- and a couple openly pecking at the site and posting their picture online in protest to the vandalism -- kicked up a storm, as supporters and opponents of the kiss clashed online.
When Sherwani first read the script for Image of Ash, he wondered if there was any Kurdish actress who would accept the role.
“When I read it; I wondered if there would be a Kurdish actress to accept that. Five actresses declined to partake in the movie because of the kissing. Then Hassanzade accepted the scenario as it was,” he explained.
The daring actress said she hopes this will be the beginning of a new era for Kurdish cinema.
“I don’t care so much about the criticisms that are aimed at me because of the kissing. I have a universal vision of the cinema and I don’t want to restrict myself to the Kurdish cinema. Therefore, the public talk is very trivial to me; what I care about is the feedback from other actors and artists,” Hassanzade said in a statement to Rudaw.
“If people think we did something wrong and if they don’t like art and cinema, then we should close our art colleges and institutes,” Hassanzade said. “I think I have done something good, but I can’t force my view on people; I respect their opinion and comments.”
She revealed that it took six takes to get the kissing scene right.
“During the kiss, there were 40 people around us but my only concern was my acting,” she said.
Hassanzade criticized some media outlets for publishing false statements, saying “some Kurdish website published some statements under my name but I want to inform everyone that I have not spoken to any Kurdish media about the kiss.”
Regarding her family’s reaction to the movie, Hassanzade said: “If freedom rains from the sky, people who despise it will hold up an umbrella. My family is very open-minded and very supportive.”
The film was produced by the Erbil Directorate of Cinema, and stars several known local actors, such as Nasr Hassan, Ghazi Ghafour, Anwar Shekhani, and Govar Anwar. The movie is at its final stage of filming. Most of the footage is filmed around the city of Koya.
Comments
0 0 Stewee Guy | 10 hours ago
Hero Hassanzade YOU ARE MY Hero (heroine). I admire your courage in spreading love in Kurdistan.
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0 0 Aram | 6 hours ago
And where will this end??? It will end like the american films if there are no taboos anymore, then they will start to show everything on TV and cinema no matter how dirty and insulting it is. Not every Taboo is good, but a society without any taboos is worse. They even say that they hope that this is just the beginning, in future they will start to show sex scenes.
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0 0 Shinger I | 4 hours ago
She says, “I don’t care so much about the criticisms that are aimed at me because of the kissing. I have a universal vision of the cinema and I don’t want to restrict myself to the Kurdish cinema. Therefore, the public talk is very trivial to me; what I care about is the feedback from other actors and artists,". So you also don't care how Allah wants you to behave. Sister, i wonder what you are going to say if you are standing before Allah. Because of your action many people who did not dare to do what you did, are now more free and have more courage to kiss and go even further then you ever would. Your action made a pathway for these people. Like the previous article, Kurdistan is becoming the west. Many people think that is a good thing, but believe me the only things that are good in the west are the education level, hospitals and social structure.. like if you have no job etc. compared with the present middle-east. Restrictions for human beings are necessary. For example if you let a 5 year old eat and do what ever he/she wants, then the only thing he/she will do is eat candy and break all kind of things. In other words chaos. We human beings cant handle everything. If you look at western societies and there freedoms. Freedoms of doing what ever they want.. drugs, alcohol, sex. The highest "reward" they can achieve is suicide . Why?, because everything that they do, will get bored and they are trying to do something more outrages... until they have done everything that is possible within human capabilities..such as materialism, tattoos, alcohol, parties, drugs. If you don't agree with me, then use your brain and convince me that i am wrong.
