Dil Leyla

by Asli Özarslan
  • 2016 Essence Film GmbH
  • 2016 Essence Film GmbH
  • 2016 Essence Film GmbH

    Synopsis

    At 26, a Kurdish-German woman is elected the youngest mayor in Turkey. In a record 81% landslide she is elected mayor of Cizre, a Kurdish capital city that lies in the war-torn region at Turkey’s border with Syria and Iraq. It is here that Leyla was born, but after her father was killed by the Turkish military, she was sent at the age of 5 to live in Germany.
    After more than 20 years, she returns home. Her goal is to heal and beautify the civil-war-torn city, which is enjoying a break in the violence. But on the eve of Turkey’s parliamentary elections, everything changes, and old memories become more real than ever.
    Locations: Cizre/Turkey and Bremen/Germany

    Festivals

    TV version LEYLA nominated for 2018 Grimme Prize 'Young Documentary'

    2016
    IDFA Amsterdam

    2017
    Max Ophüls Preis
    Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
    One World Documentary Film Festival
    Movies that Matter Festival
    Achtung Berlin
    Crossing Europe Filmfestival Linz
    Sehsüchte Berlin
    DOK.fest München
    Agadir International Documentry Festival
    Documentary Film Festival Karlsruhe
    Krakow Film Festival
    Studio Hamburg Nachwuchspreis
    Ischia Film Festival
    First Steps Berlin
    Duhok International Film Festival
    Nuremberg Human Rights Film Festival
    Document 2017 Glasgow
    Arab Film Festival Tuebingen
    Escales Documentaires de La Rochelles