uploaded by: Lauand Omar
filmmaker: Lauand Omar
year of production: 2005

The 84 minute drama takes us to a little village in Iraqi Kurdistan, where we meet Bekhal, a girl with the desire to make something out of her life. Her parents have their own plans for her, finding little sense in their daughter attending university when there is work to do in the home, and expected to marry her cousin Shwan despite her protests. Bekhal, trapped in an abusive situation and with no rights, has to make a decision.

The old regime is gone, the new laws of the Kurdish Government include women and human rights, but can society change the traditions of the simple families outside of the major cities and accept the new laws? And can the new generation, full of hopes and dreams, go their own way? Bekhal’s Tears is a provocative drama that was shot on location in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2005. Taboo issues such as forced marriage, rape, honor crimes, and the change of society in Iraq are dealt with in an intimate way.

At the age of 25, writer, director and producer Lauand Omar, a Syrian born Kurd, returns to Iraq to address these issues in his first feature film. Despite the high security issues, tackling an extremely low budget, and the problems that were facing the new Kurdish Regional Government, his biggest obstacle was in casting the main actress, a young woman who is raped by a member of her family then forced to marry him to salvage her parent’s honor. He turned to long time friend and professionally trained Turkish-Cyprus born actress Ozzie Aziz, an established music performer of the Florida music circuit. Ozzie had to learn Kurdish for her role on the spot, sometimes with only an hour of rehearsal before a scene. Bekhal’s Tears is the first Kurdish film to address women’s issues and the social taboos that must be overcome in order for Kurdistan to move forward in its rapidly modernizing region.

The film was screened in the Iraqi Kurdistan capitol of Erbil before a sold out audience of students, social workers, and politicians. Considered a highly controversial film, it was praised in the press and embraced by student and women’s rights groups as a film that exposes the issues that are still being faced to this day. It had a Middle East premiere in the Emirates Film Competition of this year, where it received a special award of recognition, and was the first Kurdish film to be screened at an Arab film festival.