release date January 31 2023
THE EXAM to feature at Royal Film Commission’s Iraqi Film Days
Shawkat Amin Korki's THE EXAM is to be screened on Wednesday, February the 1st at 7 pm at the Royal Film Commission in Jordan. The screening will be part of a special event called “Iraqi Film Days” which will take place in the Rainbow Theater First Circle – Jabal Amman.
The admission-free event will be running from Monday, January the 30th till Wednesday, the 1st of February, 2023.
Previously, the critically acclaimed Kurdish drama had been chosen as Iraq's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2023 Academy Awards (Oscars).
Furthermore, THE EXAM was selected for over 20 international film festivals and was awarded eight prestigious awards; Best Actress and Best Feature Fiction Film at London Kurdish Film Festival, UNFA Award at Cairo International Film Festival, Best International Film at Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Best International Film at Victoria Film Festival, FIPRESCI Critics Award Best Film at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Best Screenplay at Tirana International Film Festival, and Jury Prize at Mons International Film Festival.
The film follows the story of Rojin, a young Kurdish-Iraqi woman about to take her university entrance exams. Rojin’s unhappily married older sister Shilan decides to help her little sister pass at any cost, hoping to give her a more emancipated life.
Thus, the sisters inevitably become entangled in a huge network of corruption that connects all segments of society.
“THE EXAM is a strong addition to the growing number of films about young women in patriarchal societies,” said Richard Kuipers from Variety. While Gautaman Bhaskaran from Arab News described the film as “a powerful study in defying male dominance.”
THE EXAM was written by Shawkat Amin Korki and Mohamed Reza Gohari, and produced by Mîtosfilm and Masti Films, while MAD Solutions manages the Arab world’s distribution. The film stars Avan Jamal, Vania Salar, Hussein Hassan, and Hoshyar Nerwayi.
A Kurdish filmmaker, Shawkat Amin Korki studied cinema in Iran and gained international recognition in 2006 with the completion of his debut feature film in Iraqi Kurdistan CROSSING THE DUST, which premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.
Korki's biggest success to date is his film MEMORIES ON STONE (2014), which was chosen as Iraq's official entry for the Oscars.
His movies have featured and won awards at several prestigious film festivals around the world, including Karlovy Vary, Busan, Cairo, Edinburgh, Tallinn, Goteborg, Hong Kong, and many others.
He also won Best Director at the Cinedays Skopje Festival of European Cinema for his film MEMORIES ON STONE, as well as Best Kurdish Director at the Duhok International Film Festival.
Furthermore, he was awarded Best Director at the Iraq and Neighbors Film Festival for his award-winning film KICK-OFF, and received the Best Director and Critic (Netpak) awards at the Singapore International Film Festival for his film CROSSING THE DUST.
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