At 26, a Kurdish-German woman is elected the youngest mayor in Turkey. In a record 81% landslide she is elected mayor of Cizre, a Kurdish capital city that lies in the war-torn region at Turkey’s border with Syria and Iraq. It is here that Leyla was born, but after her father was killed by the Turkish military, she was sent at the age of 5 to live in Germany. After more than 20 years, she returns home. Her goal is to heal and beautify the civil-war-torn city, which is enjoying a break in the violence. But on the eve of Turkey’s parliamentary elections, everything changes, and old memories become more real than ever. Locations: Cizre/Turkey and Bremen/Germany
TV version LEYLA nominated for 2018 Grimme Prize 'Young Documentary'
2016 IDFA Amsterdam
2017 Max Ophüls Preis Thessaloniki Documentary Festival One World Documentary Film Festival Movies that Matter Festival Achtung Berlin Crossing Europe Filmfestival Linz Sehsüchte Berlin DOK.fest München Agadir International Documentry Festival Documentary Film Festival Karlsruhe Krakow Film Festival Studio Hamburg Nachwuchspreis Ischia Film Festival First Steps Berlin Duhok International Film Festival Nuremberg Human Rights Film Festival Document 2017 Glasgow Arab Film Festival Tuebingen Escales Documentaires de La Rochelles
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