Zara, a Kurdish woman working in a foreign city, loses both her national ID card and birth certificate. She visits a civil registry office to reissue them because she needs them for an urgent employment application. However, the employee informs her that her fingerprints are unreadable, advising her to rest her hands for a couple of weeks. With a tight deadline, Zara cannot afford to wait. She pleads with the employee for another chance. Eventually, the employee suggests washing her hands thoroughly before trying again. In the bathroom, Zara discovers a birth certificate belonging to another woman whose photo resembles her own. Torn with indecision, Zara puts it in her purse. Ultimately, after speaking with the head manager of the civil registry office and feeling hopeless, she decides to return the found birth certificate and leaves the office.
Runtime: 11:39
Category: Short Fiction
Director Biography – Zanyar Muhammadineko
Zanyar Muhammadineko was born in 1993 in Bokan, Rojhelat of Kurdistan (Iran). With a deep love for film and poetry from a young age, he made his first short fiction film, Sêwey yek zîndû (As if Alive), in 2013 before attending university. In 2013, he joined the Iranian Youth Cinema Society course in Ûrmiye, graduating with a diploma in Cinema. During this time, he also began writing poetry in Kurdish. He created a short documentary, Le lay min (By My Side), in 2016 and a short fiction film, Bîroke xoľawiyekanî min (My Clayey Conception), in 2017. His latest short fiction film, Siwênpence (Fingerprint), was co-produced with Sannar Nuriazer, Zanyar Muhammadineko, and the IYCS – Ûrmiye office, and is set to release in 2021.
Zanyar has worked as a set decorator and costume designer for over 15 short films. He is a member of Rêtaw (Komîna Bilavkirina Fîlman ya Rêtaw – Rêtaw Film Distributor), distributing short Kurdish films from Rojhelat, Rojava, Başûr, Bakûr, and the diaspora to film festivals. He has received four grants for his artistic activities, including being named a Young Talented Artist of Bokan (2017-2019) and Ûrmiye (2018). He participated in the Talent Campus program of the 36th Fajr International Film Festival (2018) and has been a jury member at the International Mesopotamia Film Festival in Turkey (2020) and the International Reel Youth Film Festival (Online, 2018).
Filmography:
- Ŝêwey yek zîndû (As if Alive) – 2013
- Winner of Best Editing and Best Screen at the West Azerbaijan Province Film Festival, Iran (2015)
- Winner of Best Short Film at the 45th International Roshd Film Festival, Iran (2015)
- Winner of Best Short Student Film at the Farhangiyan Film Festival, Iran (2015)
- Official selection of over 50 international film festivals
- Le lay min (By My Side) – 2016
- Winner of Best Short Documentary at the International Philadelphia Youth Film Festival, USA (2017)
- Winner of Best Short Documentary at the 18th Lucania International Film Festival, Italy (2017)
- Winner of Best Short Documentary at the International Cine Student Film Festival, USA (2017)
- Bîroke xoľawiyekanî min (My Clayey Conception) – 2017
- Winner of Best Short Film at the Gate Film Festival, Orumiyeh (2019)
- Winner of Best Short Foreign Film at the International Cine Student Film Festival, USA (2018)
- Winner of Best Short Student Film at the International Slemani Film Festival, Iraq (2017)
- Siwênpence (Fingerprint) – 2021
Zanyar also co-operated with the Global Kurdish Film Festival in London (2021) as one of the ten members of the festival. His poetry has won several prizes and been published on Kurdish poetic websites.
