Sisters Apart

  • a film by Daphne Charizani
  • feature film
  • 93 min
  • 2020

Rojda, a young German soldier with Kurdish-Iraqi roots who has lived in Germany since childhood, volunteers for a mission to train female Kurdish soldiers in Iraq to fight ISIS. No one must know that she is actually looking for her missing sister.

Info
  • Genre

    • Drama
  • Countries of Production

    • Germany / Greece
  • Language

    • Kurdish, German, English (OV)
  • World premiere

    • 23rd February 2020 – Berlinale (Perspektive Deutsches Kino)
  • German cinema release

    • 15th July 2021
  • a production by

    • Pallas Film, Match Factory Productions, View Master Films
  • in co-production with

    • ZDF – Das Kleine Fernsehspiel, ERT
  • in association with

    • Arte
  • with the support of

    • Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, DFFF – Deutscher Filmförderfonds, Greek Film Center, Ekome SA, The Post Republic
  • World Sales

    • The Match Factory
  • Distribution

    • Missing Films
Synopsis

Rojda is a young German soldier with Kurdish-Iraqi roots who has lived in Germany since childhood. She is now looking for her mother Ferhat in a Greek refugee camp. When the two finally find each other after so many years apart, they are overjoyed. But their happiness soon fades when Rojda learns that her sister Dilan is still in Iraq. Rojda succeeds in bringing her mother to Germany, but she is unable to reach her sister. When the phone rings and Dilan mentions Kurdish fighters, Rojda is filled with fear. She decides to request a redeployment to Erbil in Iraq so she can find her sister. Once there, Rojda quickly wins the trust of the female fighters. But the more intensely she searches for her sister, the more she becomes caught between the two sides.

Cast
  • Rojda Xani

    • Almila BAGRIACIK
  • Berivan

    • Zübeyde BULUT
  • Ferhat Xani

    • Maryam BOUBANI
  • Alex Breidmeier

    • Christoph LETKOWSKI
  • Dilan Xani

    • Gonca DE HAAS
  • Mark Fuhrmann

    • Niels Bruno SCHMIDT
  • Soldier Tom

    • Lucas PRISOR
  • Dimitri

    • Yiannis NIAROS
Crew
  • Written by

    • Daphne Charizani
  • Directed by

    • Daphne Charizani
  • Producers

    • Thanassis Karathanos, Martin Hampel, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen, Giorgos Kyriakos
  • Director of photography

    • Falko Lachmund
  • Editor

    • David J. Rauschning
  • Set design

    • Yula Zoiopoulou, Thomas Freudenthal
  • Casting

    • Ulrike Müller
  • Music

    • Florian Tessloff
  • Costumes

    • Jutta Krämer
  • Makeup

    • Manuela Barnbeck
  • Production Manager

    • Vassilis Tzanidis, Marc Wächter
  • Sound-Design

    • Manuel Laval
  • Mixing Engineer

    • Adrian Baumeister
Festivals
  • Filmkunstfest MV / Schwerin, Germany
  • German Film Festival in Madrid, Spain
  • Shanghai IFF, China
  • Seoul International Women's FF, South Korea
  • German FF Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Husumer Filmtage, Germany
  • War on Screen – International Film Festival, France
  • Festival du Cinéma Allemand Paris, France
  • Kurdish FF in Berlin, Germany
  • Heartland IFF, US
  • Human Rights FF Lugano, Switzerland
  • Women’s FF “Demakijaż”, Poland
  • Sao Paulo IFF, Brasil
  • Indie Cork FF, Ireland
  • Goethe-Institut Cyprus
  • Thessaloniki IFF, Greece
  • German Currents FF, US
  • Augenblick FF, France
  • Filmfestival "Fokus-films from Germany", UK
  • DUHOK Internation Kurdish FF, Irak
Awards
  • Best Narrative Feature Premiere Award / Heartland IFF, Indiana, USA
  • Best Actress Award for Maryam Boubani / DUHOKIFF, Iraq
  • German Grimme Award, Fiction Competition

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