The feature documentary Rojek, written and directed by Montreal filmmaker of Kurdish origin Zaynê Akyol, will represent Canada at the Oscars, Telefilm Canada announced Thursday.
The documentary film produced by Metafilms will be the Canadian film submitted in the category of Best International Film at the 96th Academy Awards, which will take place on March 10. It is not said however that he will be selected among the finalists.
It remains that the selection of Rojek will relaunch the career of this documentary film released in theaters last January. According to producers Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre and Sylvain Corbeil, this will help them to program it in American festivals.
In Rojek, Zaynê Akyol traveled to Syrian Kurdistan to interview prisoners of the Islamic State to try to understand their murderous motivations in their project of caliphate. “I wanted to understand their indoctrination, but also to see how Kurdistan is trying to rebuild itself and why the Kurds are neglected by the international community,” said the filmmaker.
Zaynê Akyol spoke of a “courageous choice” made by the jury chaired by Telefilm Canada. “It’s an important film, not because I made it, but because of the subject,” she insisted.
