Kurdish Director Wins Award at Tehran Short Film Festival

Short Film Ghazal Wins Award at Tehran International Short Film Festival

Young Kurdish filmmaker Saman Hosseinpuor has secured third place for Best Short Film in the specialized “Book and Cinema” category at the 43rd Tehran International Short Film Festival with his short film Ghazal.
The achievement marks another milestone in the prolific career of a director with an established presence at international festivals.

Written and directed by Hosseinpuor, a native of Saqqez in Kurdistan Province (Rojhilat/Eastern Kurdistan), Ghazal stood out among a fierce lineup of competing filmmakers to earn its spot among the winning entries.

Receiving an award in the “Book and Cinema” section underscores the film’s successful adaptation of literary prose into visual storytelling and cinematic narrative—a highly regarded artistic endeavor in professional film festivals.

Hosseinpuor is one of the leading figures of the new generation of Kurdish cinema, having produced 12 short films to date.

His works have gained widespread international recognition and screened at over 100 global festivals, including prestigious events such as the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, the Zlín Film Festival in the Czech Republic, and the Red Sea International Film Festival.

Much like Ghazal, the majority of his works draw deeply from Kurdish culture, identity, and daily life, presenting them to audiences through a contemporary humanistic lens.

Academically and professionally, Hosseinpuor holds a Master’s degree in Cinema and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Philosophy of Art.

He completed a teaching fellowship at the Busan Asian Film School and is an official member of the Iranian Short Film Association.

Last year, Hosseinpuor won the Best Short Film award at the Slemani International Film Festival.

Taking a major step toward feature film production, he has been selected by the Kurdistan Film Commission to participate in a specialized workshop in Slemani from November 2 to 6.

The workshop focuses on feature film project development at the treatment stage—the critical phase where the core narrative structure, story arcs, and thematic elements are detailed before advancing to final screenwriting and production.

Over the past two decades, young filmmakers from Eastern Kurdistan have turned short films into a powerful medium for bringing the stories and struggles of their society to global audiences, despite limited financial resources and severe production challenges.

Films from the region consistently capture the attention of festival juries worldwide thanks to their authentic storytelling, profound human insight, and distinct visual aesthetics rooted in local geography and culture.

Saman Hosseinpuor’s latest success and his transition toward feature film development form part of an ongoing effort by a new generation of Kurdish cinema professionals to solidify their standing in regional and global cinema—marking not only a personal achievement, but also reinforcing the presence of Kurdish artistic identity on the international stage.