A Flag Without a Country

Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Screenwriters: Bahman Ghobadi

Institute History

  • 2016 Sundance Film Festival

Description

For Nariman the pilot and Helly Luv, an aspiring singer, being Kurdish is not just an identity; it’s a full-time job. Nariman needs young recruits for his flying school—a goal made darkly comic since he just survived a plane crash—while the illustrious Helly collects Kalashnikov rifles and a sea of Kurdish flags to produce her music video. In the midst of another war against the Kurdish people, Nariman reminisces about a long-lost love, and Helly finds herself connecting with Kurdish children at a refugee camp near the Syrian border, who are in urgent need of inspiration and hope.

Lauded director Bahman Ghobadi ignites the pathos in a situation and then magically transforms it into joy. He masterfully clouds the lines between fiction and documentary by filming reenactments with his trademark camera and by casting ordinary characters as themselves. A timely and humanist portrait, Ghobadi’s newest work skirts the politics and instead creates a graceful reminder of the Kurdish people’s resilience and an ode to their collective creativity.

— Hussain Currimbhoy

Screening Details

As you use our Online Archives, please understand that the information presented from Festivals, Labs, and other activities is taken directly from official publications from each year. While this information is limited and doesn't necessarily represent the full list of participants (e.g. actors and crew), it is the list given to us by the main film/play/project contact at the time, based on the space restrictions of our publications. Each entry in the Online Archives is meant as a historical record of a particular film, play, or project at the time of its involvement with Sundance Institute. For this reason, we can only amend an entry if a name is misspelled, or if the entry does not correctly reflect the original publication. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected]