Maryam Ebrahimi releases documentary on Kurdish female soldiers in Rojava

Documentary filmmaker Maryam Ebrahimi has released a new film titled ‘The Living Dead in Rojava’ (De levande döda i Rojava), which focuses on Kurdish female soldiers who fought on the front lines against IS. The project took five years to complete and involved filming in the autonomous region of Rojava on the border between Syria and Turkey.

The documentary provides a personal look at Kurdish war veterans, including former commander Sorkhin, and explores the societal model built in the wake of the defeat of IS. While these fighters were once celebrated by the West for their role in defeating the terror regime, they are now targeted by the Turkish military, often via drone strikes.

Ebrahimi, an Iranian-Swedish filmmaker known for her previous work on women’s rights in Afghanistan and Iranian propaganda, uses an interactive approach to connect with her subjects, documenting their daily lives and the lasting physical and psychological impacts of the conflict.