October 15, 2022
Gilgamesh: She Who Saw the Deep, a new film by Anton Vidokle and Pelin Tan, will premiere concurrently at New York Kurdish Film Festival and Kurdisches Filmfestival Berlin.
In New York, the film will screen at the Angelika Theater on October 15, at 2:20pm EST. You can reserve tickets here. Those in Berlin can see the film at fsk Kino on October 15 at 6pm CET. Ticket information can be found here.
Gilgamesh: She Who Saw the Deep
Kurdish and Turkish with English subtitles, 47:12 minutes, 2022
The oldest piece of literature to date has been found to be The Epic of Gilgamesh. It was written in Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years ago and tells the journey of Gilgamesh, who was the king of Uruk, one of the earliest ancient metropolises. Gilgamesh sets off on a search for immortality after losing Enkidu, his best and closest friend, in order to prevent suffering the same fate. Gilgamesh, who is both a deity and a human, meets a wide variety of characters, from the Scorpion people and the Goddess Ishtar to Utnapishtim, who, like Noah, built an arc to preserve humanity from the Great Flood. The movie transports us through time and space and was shot along the banks of the Tigris River, not far from the historic cities of Mardin, Hasankeyf, and Dara. Inspired by Sumerian cosmology as well as the philosophy of Russian cosmism, and accompanied by an original score by Alva Noto, Gilgamesh: She Who Saw the Deep is a meditation on questions of living, death, friendship, love, and immortality. This film is in Kurdish and Turkish, and features an all-woman cast of actors from the Amed Theater in Diyarbakır.
Film by: Anton Vidokle and Pelin Tan
Featuring: Elvan Koçer, Berfin Emektar, Dijle Güneş Yavuz, Şahperi Alphan Bayhan, Rugeş Kırıcı, Zelal Bakır Turan
Cinematography: Ayman Nahle
Original score by: Alva Noto
Editing: Meggie Schneider
Production management: Yelta Köm