• Archive - Festival 33
  • Director: Kazım Öz
  • Turkey, Germany, USA 2017
  • 110 minutes
  • Kurdish, Turkish, English
  • Subtitles in Hebrew

Jan, a young man raised in New York City, is moved by the song his ailing grandmother sings to him on her deathbed. After her death, Jan travels to where she grew up in the Kurdish heartland in search of the truth behind the song. His journey takes him deep into his own heritage, revealing sad, fiercely-hidden truths and the meaning of what she left behind.

Zer is an enigmatic, lyrical and moving meditation on the scars of a troubled region, with beautiful cinematography and mystical undertones.

Filmography: The Storm (2008), The Photograph (2002).


  • Director Kazım Öz
  • Production Kazım Öz, Meral Balık, Turan Tokel
  • Script Kazım Öz
  • Cinematography Feza Çaldıran, Eyüp Boz, Orçun Özkılıç
  • Editing Thomas Balkenhol, Kazim Öz
  • Music Mustafa Biber
  • Festivals Istanbul, Edinburgh
  • Actors Nik Xhelilaj, Güler Ökten, Tomris İncer, Haleigh Ciel
  • Source Köz Film