{"id":278317,"date":"2026-09-04T17:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T17:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/278317\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T17:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T17:48:09","slug":"oscars-iraq-submits-no-paradise-if-you-are-killed-by-a-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/278317\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscars: Iraq Submits \u2018No Paradise If You Are Killed By A Woman\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIraq<\/a> has selected Norwegian-Kurdish director Halkawt Mustafa<\/a>\u2019s drama No Paradise If You Are Killed By A Woman<\/a> as its Best International Feature Film entry to the 99th Academy Awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tNews of the choice came ahead of the film\u2019s world premiere Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival early next week.<\/p>\n

\n\tAvan Jamal stars as female Peshmerga sniper Vyan who heads to Mosul to rescue her younger sister from ISIS, forcing her to confront the violence she survived and the shadows of the person she has become. The cast also features Thorbj\u00f8rn Harr, Kanar Sarchl and Kader Jalal.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film is rooted in Mustafa\u2019s encounter with a female Peshmerga sniper during in 2014 as women moved into frontline positions to counter Islamic State attacks.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe film is also deeply personal. I was born in Iraqi Kurdistan and fled to Norway as a child. Through Vyan\u2019s story, I want to honour the women who refused to bow to darkness and fought not only for themselves, but for the freedom of others,\u201d said Mustafa.<\/p>\n

\n\tHis previous credits include documentary Hiding Saddam Hussein, taking its cue from the farmer who hid the Iraqi dictator for 235 days in 2003, and Iraq\u2019s 2016 Oscar submission The Classic.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe director also previously explored the world of female Kurdish fighters with the 2015 documentary\u00a0The Women ISIS Fears.<\/p>\n

\n\tIraq\u2019s National Selection Committee for the Academy Awards said the choice of the film as the official submission had been reached by unanimous consensus, \u201cfollowing a rigorous artistic evaluation of the eligible submissions\u201d. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe committee commended the film\u2019s mature directorial vision and the cohesive integration of its visual and technical craftsmanship, delivering cinematic work that articulates the depth of local narratives with the artistic distinction needed to compete on the global stage.<\/p>\n

\n\tIraq enjoyed a buzzy 2025-26 awards season thanks to Hasan Hadi\u2019s Cannes Cam\u00e9ra d\u2019Or-winning first The President\u2019s Cake, which became the country\u2019s first feature to make it to the December short list. <\/p>\n

\n\tNo Paradise If You Are Killed By A Woman is produced by Hene Films. in co-production with La Media (Iraqi Kurdistan) and The Chimney Pot (Sweden). True Colours handles international sales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iraq has selected Norwegian-Kurdish director Halkawt Mustafa\u2019s drama No Paradise If You Are Killed By A Woman as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[14],"tags":[75880,75881,94,75882,9303],"class_list":["post-278317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iraq","tag-99th-academy-awards","tag-halkawt-mustafa","tag-iraq","tag-no-paradise-if-you-are-killed-by-a-woman","tag-oscars"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117214032919829476","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}