Where Is Gilgamesh?

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Where Is Gilgamesh? (Sorani Kurdish: گێلگامێش لە کوێیە؟) is a 2024 Kurdish[1] heist noir crime film noir based on the Epic of Gilgamesh,[2][3] directed by Karzan Kardozi.

Where Is Gilgamesh?
Sorani Kurdishگێلگامێش لە کوێیە؟
Directed byKarzan Kardozi
Written byKarzan Kardozi
Produced byKarzan Kardozi
StarringBarzan Yunis
Goran Dlshad
Ragash Kizhan
Taha Mohamad
CinematographyLana Diyar
Distributed byKardozi Production
Release date
  • 1 February 2024 (2024-02-01)
Running time
90 minutes
CountriesIraq, Kurdistan Region
LanguageKurdish

Plot

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Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh is stolen from a museum by a group of smugglers. Govan, a museum security guard, attempts to recover the stolen artifact and prevent its illicit sale at an auction in City of London. In the process, he becomes entangled with a secretive society that adheres to ancient Mesopotamian beliefs dating back to the early Sumerian period.[4]

Cast

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  • Barzan Yunis as Govan (Gilgamesh)
  • Goran Dlshad as Akam (Enkidu)
  • Ragash Kizhan as Avin (Inanna)
  • Taha Mohamad as Avin's Father (Enlil)
  • Yasin Omar as Haji Hazo (Humbaba)

Production

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The film was shot with a small crew of seven people with a budget of $9000, funded and produced by the director himself. The 29-day shoot took place entirely in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region. Many scenes were filmed inside the Sulaymaniyah Museum. The newly discovered Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh, housed at the Museum, makes an appearance in the film.[5]

Karzan Kardozi

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Karzan Kardozi

Karzan Kardozi (Sorani Kurdish: کارزان کاردۆزی); born 2 May 1983)[6][7][8] is a Kurdish American film director,[9] writer[10] and producer,[9] best known for Where Is Gilgamesh?.

Kardozi was born in Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region, and left with his family in 1999 due to war and conflict.[11] They settled in the United States, in Nashville, Tennessee, where Kardozi studied film directing. In 2010, Karzan graduated from Watkins College of Art, Design & Film with a BA in Film Directing and Cinematography, and in 2014 received Master in Film Production with Distinction from University of Central Lancashire. [12]

In 2015, Karzan went back to Kurdistan to make the documentary film I Want to Live,[13] about the lives of Kurdish refugees from Syria. The film was shot on a budget of $400. In 2023, Karzan made Where is Gilgamesh? as his first feature film.[14]

Early work

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  • A Walking Shadow (2007)
  • A Day in the Country (2008)
  • Greed Eats the Soul (2009)
  • The Arcturian (2013)
  • A Viewer on a Movie Projector (2014)
  • Yilmaz Guney: Rebel with a Cause (2014)
  • I Want To Live (2015)

Publications

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References

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  1. "revolutionizing work for Kurdistan". Ideas Beyond Borders. 2 December 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  2. "Where Is Gilgamesh? Poster is Published". NRTTV. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  3. "پۆستەری فیلمی کوردی". nrttv.com. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  4. "Where Is Gilgamesh? Is Releases". Channel 8. 23 January 2024. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  5. "The Epic of Gilgamesh Comes to the Silver Screen". Kurdistan Chronicle. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
  6. Casagrande, Orsola (2023). Kurdistan +100: Stories from a Future State. Comma Press. ISBN 9781912697366.
  7. Coleman, David (2014). The Bipolar Express: Manic Depression and the Movies. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780810891944.
  8. Holliday, Shabnam J. (2016). Political Identities and Popular Uprisings in the Middle East. Rowman & Littlefield International. ISBN 9781783484508.
  9. 1 2 "کارزان کاردۆزی". www.kurdcinama.com. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  10. "Karzan Kardozi". Comma Press. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  11. Seyder, Ferhad Ibrahim, ed. (2019). The Kurds before a regional transformation: rollback of independence efforts. Konfrontation und Kooperation im Vorderen Orient. Zürich: Lit Verlag. p. 107. ISBN 978-3-643-91037-0.
  12. Haylock, Bridget; Barrette, Catherine (2020). Traumatic Imprints: Performance, Art, Literature and Theoretical Practice. Brill. ISBN 9781848880856.
  13. "I Want to Live". MUBI.
  14. "Karzan Kardozi". IMDB. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  15. "کارزان کاردۆزی دوو بەرگی دیکەی (سەد ساڵ سینەما، سەد دەرهێنەر) بڵاو دەکاتەوە". Politic Press. 2021-02-13. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  16. Broomfield, M. (28 November 2023), "First Kurdish Sci-Fi Collection is Rooted in the Past", The Markaz Report, retrieved 2023-05-01
  17. ""Kurdistan + 100", edited by Orsola Casagrande and Mustafa Gündoğdu", Asian Review of Books, 2023, retrieved 2023-05-01
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Karzan Kardozi at IMDb