Once an essential part of Kurdish resistance, Adoula suffered a stroke in 2010 that erased all her recent memories. Now at war, her children take turns in taking care of her as they carry out their tasks at the resistance.
Once an essential part of Kurdish resistance, Adoula suffered a stroke in 2010 that erased all her recent memories. Now at war, her children take turns in taking care of her as they carry out their tasks at the resistance.
Technical specifications:
Feature documentary
Title: Mother
Estimated runtime: 90’
Genre: Documentary
Director: Sevinaz Evdikê
Producers: Sevinaz Evdikê, Shero Hinde (Rojava Film Commune)
Writer: Sevinaz Evdikê
With the Cold War about to break out, young, lifelong friends Suraya and Sima must question their life choices and moral principles when they get involved in opposite sides of the conflict.
Technical speficications:
Feature fiction film
Film Title: Sima's Song
Estimated runtime: 90’
Genre: Drama
Director: Roya Sadat
Producers: Alba Sotorra, Frank Hoeve, Maeva Savinien & Frédéric Corvez
Writers: Roya Sadat, Aziz Deldar
Sica (14) is obsessed that the sea will return her father’s body after a shipwreck on the Costa da Morte (Coast of Death), Galicia. While she walks the cliffs she meets a boy, Suso (15), the Storm Chaser, as weird as she is, who is waiting for the arrival of Ofelia, the mother of all storms. Sica investigates the circumstances that led to her father’s death and sets out on a painful journey of discovery. For her, the fishing town where she has grown up, marked by the brutality of its ocean and the growing imbalance of Nature, will never be the same again.
Technical info:
Feature fiction film
Working title: Sica
Estimated runtime: 90’
Genre: Drama, Coming-of-age
Director: Carla Subirana
Producers: Alba Sotorra, Andrea Vázquez
Writer: Carla Subirana
DOP: Mauro Herce
Sound: Amanda Villavieja
Editing: Juliana Montañés
Starring: Núria Prims, Thaïs García, Marco Antonio Florido, María Villaverde.
Shamima Begum (UK) and Hoda Muthana (US) made it into worldwide headlines when they left their countries as teenagers to join ISIS. Now they want to return to their countries. Filmed in the high-security Camp Roj in Syria, which houses ISIS women and children that no Western country wants back, and Kurds have no choice but to look after.
Alba Sotorra in Association with MetFilm present
Feature documentary
Title: The Return, life after ISIS
Runtime: 90 & 52 min
Genre: Documentary
Director: Alba Sotorra
Producers: Alba Sotorra, Vesna Cudic, Carles Torras
Executive producers: Alba Sotorra, Vesna Cudic, Sam Collyns, Poppy Dixon (Sky), Jack Oliver (Sky), Jordi Ambrós (TVC)
Screenwriters: Júlia Parés, Alba Sotorra
DOP: Lara Vilanova, Gris Jordana, Núria Roldós
Direct Sound: Cony Docolomansky, Denis Darwish, Nadja Darwish, Àlex Albors, Anna Rajadell
Editors: Michael Nollet, Xavier Carrasco
Sound design: Jordi Ribas
Music composers: Mehmud Berazi, Josefina Rozenwasser
Best Documentary [Nominee]
– Premios Goya
Best Documentary
– Premis Gaudí
Best Documentary
– SomCinema Lleida
Best Documentary [Preselected]
– Premis Gaudí
Laya Award from the Office of Civil and Political Rights
Young Audience Award
— Docs Barcelona 2021
"Special Mention" – Best Documentary Competion
— Warsaw International Film Festival
News & Current Affairs [Nominee]
– Rose d'Or Awards
Best documentary [Nominee]
– Edinburgh TV Awards
Best documentary programe [Nominee]
– RTS Awards
Best use of archive footage [Nominee]
– Focal Awards
SXSW 2021 [World Premiere]
Hot Docs 2021
Cleveland International Film Festival 2021
Seattle International Film Festival 2021
Docs Barcelona 2021
Human Rights Watch Film Festival New York 2021
Sheffield Doc Fest 2021
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival 2021
DOXA Film Festival 2021
Dokufest 2021
Jerusalem Film Festival 2021
Nashville Film Festival 2021
Kurdish Film Festival New York 2021
Human Rights Film Festival Berlin 2021
Zurich Film Festival 2021
Heartland Film Festival 2021
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2021
Warsaw International Film Festival 2021
Tallgrass Film Festival 2021
Bergen International Film Festival 2021
UNAFF International Documentary Film Festival 2021
Milwaukee Muslim Film Festival 2021
Denver Film Festival 2021
Hawaii International Film Festival 2021
Festival Protesta 2021
SomCinema Lleida International Film Festival 2021
Festival Cine por Mujeres 2021
Rocky Mountains Women's Film Festival 2021
International Crime and Punishment Film Festival 2021
Festival REC Tarragona 2021
Festival Cinéma Méditerranéen de Bruxelles 2021
“An extraordinary humanitarian achievement.”
— Cine Addiction
“Stirring, sobering, and vitally humane.”
— Variety
“Remarkable access.”
“Incredible achievement.”
— Screen Daily
“A sharp sense of structure and the largest of hearts.”
"Timely, immersive, and deeply poignant."
— Film Threat
“I was astounded by The Return. I was astonished by its access, astonished by its empathy and astonished by its existence… simply a superb piece of filmmaking”
— Film Inquiry
Bima, tormented by the fact that she can't become a mother, spends her days doing the arduous tasks of the field and the house, surrounded by fog, as her sister breastfeeds her baby. She belongs to the Mosuo ethnic group, a matriarcal society where a woman's reputation depends on her children and family. Her thoughts and reflexions become evident through an open dialogue with the documentary's director, who isn't a mother either, talking about what it means to be a woman and about freedom and love in that timeless, clouded place.
After the visit of a Tibetan monk who tries to help her through a ritual without success, she decides to travel to the city with hopes of finding a new life.
Technical specifications:
Short documentary
Title: Dona sota la pluja
Estimated runtime: 15’
Genre: Documentary
Director: Alba Sotorra
Producer: Alba Sotorra
Executive Producers: Alba Sotorra, Marta Figueras, Liuying Cao
Writer: Alba Sotorra
Editor: Lidia Sala
DOP: Alba Sotorra
Original soundtrack: Djuna Lund
Starring: Bima Lachu
<p>
The children in Kobane, as they do in any city in the world, need to play around and enjoy their environment. Because of the war that has hit their country during the last years, playing has become a memory. Now, after years of bombings, they rediscover their playground and as much as it has changed it is the only playground they have to play again.
Technical specifications:
Short documentary
Title: El pati de Kobane
Release date: 2018
Runtime: 6'30''
Genre: Documentary
Director: Alba Sotorra
Producers: Alba Sotorra, Mustafa Al Ali
Writer: Alba Sotorra
Editor: Pau Galan
Director of photography: Alba Sotorra
Direct sound: Sevinaz Evdike
In a city ravaged by war, while society tries to cope with the consequences of extreme violence, a small girl finds a peculiar way to survive.
Technical specifications:
Short fiction film
Title: Home
Release date: 2018
Length: 9'40''
Genre: Drama, War
Director: Sevinaz Evdikê
Writer: Sevinaz Evdike
Producers: Hîwa Argesh, Alba Sotorra
Director of photography: Alberto García Ballesteros
Electric/Light: Dijwar Mussa
Art director: Deniz Derwish, Azad Evdikê, Hîwa Argesh
Camera operator: Deniz Tekoshin
Sound recording: Azad Evdike, Kiwan Derwis
Edition: Alberto García Ballesteros
Cast: Rodîn Mohamed, Hîwa Argesh
War feature shot in the Kurdistan of Syria, in the middle of the armed conflict. The film tells the real story of resistance of a group of young people who faced the army to defend their neighborhood and it is written based on the diaries of those who died and the testimony of the survivors, who also act in the film. The protagonist is Zilan, a young woman who returns to her hometown looking for the memory of her dead brother, to find herself involved in a violent fight against the police and the army. The film explores universal concepts such as hope, friendship, sacrifice and loss in the struggle for freedom of a group of young people.
Technical specifications
Feature film
Original title: Ji Bo Azadiyê
International title: The End Will Be Spectacular
Release date: 2019
Runtime: 112’ producer’s cut / 140’ director’s cut
Genre: Drama, War
Director: Ersin Çelik
Writers: Ersin Çelik, Aysun Genç
Producers: Diyar Hesso, Ersin Çelik
Cinematography: Celim Kizildağ
Edition: Sose Vartanian, Xavi Carrasco
Original music: Mehmûd Berazî
Cast: Arjîn Baysal, Delîl Pîran, Cîhan Seve, Shaîre Ozhan, Arif Demir, Sevda Kina
Social media: Facebook , Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, IMDB
Maria is 93 years old and lives alone in her small flat in Barcelona, where time seems to have stopped 50 years ago. Her only contact with the outside world is the weekly call to her friend in the village, Pilar. This is until she forgets her phone number forever, becoming even more isolated from the world.
Technical specifications
Short film
Title: La vella lluita
Release date: 2020
Runtime: 17.00 '
Genre: Drama
Director: Carol Rodríguez Colás, Marina Rodríguez Colás
Writers: Carol Rodríguez Colás, Marina Rodríguez Colás
Producer: Eva Murgui
Executive producers: Alba Sotorra, Laura Rubirola Sala , Clàudia Maluenda Martínez
Qadir (8) and Nabila (7) scape from a refugee camp and travel to Mosul to find somebody who can testify the paternity of their small brother, the son of the ISIS man who killed their father and raped their mother.
Fiction Feature
Director: Alba Sotorra
Script: Yery Bermúdez
Producer: Adrià Monés & Alba Sotorra
