Screening of Hawraz Mohammed's debut film 'Harsh Land, Distant Sky', about a Kurdish war veteran seeking absolution from a traditional tattooist.
Harsh Land, Distant Sky screens at Phoenix Picturehouse on Friday 30 October as part of Cinefest. It's the debut film from Kurdish director and author Hawraz Mohammed, and it runs for 102 minutes.
The story follows Harun, a veteran of the Kurdish Civil War living with PTSD and a heavy weight of guilt. Through him, Mohammed looks at the harsh realities of a war that doesn't end when the fighting stops — the one that keeps going inside. To find some kind of absolution, Harun has to confess his darkest secrets to a traditional Kurdish tattooist in a village on the borders of Iran, Iraq and Turkey, a place that was once sacred and is now torn apart.
It's a quiet, focused piece of storytelling that lets the weight of Harun's history sit with you. The border village itself serves as a mirror for the conflict: a place caught between three countries, just as Harun is caught between his past and the life he's trying to live now. The tattooist, too, is a specific kind of figure here — someone who marks the skin while Harun tries to clear his conscience.
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Phoenix Picturehouse is a century-old Oxford cinema with two screens and a friendly upstairs bar, and it's also home to 'Phoenix Nights', a series of cult classics handpicked by the Phoenix team, and a 'Kids' Club' run with UNICEF to bring families together through cinema. Harsh Land, Distant Sky runs for 102 minutes, and you can find tickets and times on the Picturehouses website.
