‘Tongue of the Mountain’ is my story, says Lisa Calan at IFFK 2022

News Desk

22 March 2022 09:30 PM

Kurdish filmmaker and activist, Lisa Calan who lost both her legs in a bomb attack, stated that ‘Tongue of the Mountain’ was based on her own story. She was talking about her life and her projects at the International Film Festival of Kerala(IFFK 2022).

Lisa Calan who is also the winner of The Spirit of Cinema Award at IFFK, revealed that Tongue of the Mountain throws light on many of the traumatic childhood experiences she faced from an authoritarian regime that does not recognize the rights and freedom of the Kurdish people.

She stated that language is integral for connecting with people and sharing their stories. For Lisa Calan, language is the bridge that fills the voids created by the untold experiences of the Kurdish people. It has helped her bring these untold stories of the Kurdish people to the world at large through her films. Language is also a rope to which the oppressed can hold onto as a means to save their culture and identities.

Calan expressed concern about the future of the Kurdish minority spread around the borders of Iraq, Iran and Turkey. Language was the only medium they were left with to express their own culture, their own distinct Kurdish identity. Born in a country that denies the Kurds education in their mother tongue, Calan is determined to make her films in the Kurdish language to express herself and her people.

She added that the Kurdish language was also a powerful tool for women, in their fight against patriarchy and state atrocities that constrain their freedom and limit their choices.

Calan said she was keen to document the stories of survivors and concluded that she was hopeful that one day Kurdish women would  be free from their shackles and that the government would grant them their rights.