Zagros

Havin, the young wife of Zagros, a Kurdish shepherd, is accused of adultery. With her little daughter Rayhan, she flees Kurdistan for Belgium. Convinced of her innocence, Zagros decides to join her in Belgium to start a new life.

But in Brussels, Zagros begins to doubt: it seems that Havin didn't tell the whole truth. He must choose between his love for his wife and the honor of his family. An increasingly difficult choice, which will gradually sink Zagros into despair.

Flagey, Brussels International Film Festival

Sahim Omar Kalifa

Zagros is the feature debut of the Belgian/Kurdish film maker Sahim Omar Kalifa (1980). Sahim was born in Iraq and at the age of twenty emigrated to Belgium. He learned Dutch and worked as an interpreter in Brussels, including with the Immigration Department. He then studied film at Saint Luc Brussels film school. He graduated with the short film Nan (2008), which earned him a "wildcard" from the VAF. As a result, he was able to film his first professional short film, Land of the Heroes (2010), which he shot in Iraq. The short film won a large number of prizes, including a jury prize at the 61st Berlinale (section Generation). His next short films, Baghdad Messi (2012) and Bad Hunter (2014) - both also shot in Iraq - turned out to be even bigger prize-winners at festivals and both were on the shortlist of the Oscars. Sahim's three short films were selected for 250 festivals and won a total of 97 prizes. Sahim also directed an episode of the six-part documentary series Steenweg (2016), which was awarded the prize for best documentary series during the International Documentary Film Festival Docville in Leuven (Belgium) in March 2017.