Being Kurd is being featured as part of the Western Sydney Shorts festival, which has turned to due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The film explores SBS journalist and executive producer during the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and her family's difficult journey to Australia.
It was a story that Ms Dogan came across during her studies and one she knew she had to make into a film.
“In 2014 I was studying at film school in Sydney and I was searching for Kurdish stories to produce at the time. I came across many different stories and journeys, then I heard about Roza’s story and I wanted to meet her right away,” Ms Dogan told SBS Kurdish.
“Roza was open to sharing her personal story and I was glad to be part of the experience of adapting her story onto an art form cinema. It was a learning journey at the time and I’ve learned a lot of things about my cultural background.”
Ms Dogan, a Kurd from Turkey, said members of Australia’s Kurdish community had similar experiences of escaping something out of their control in search of a safe place to call home.
Dee Dogan and Roza Germian. Source: Supplied
“I’ve met so many other Kurds from different parts, and Turkey, who wanted to share their personal story with me, what they’ve been through and how lucky they were to be alive after such traumatic experiences.”
After hearing their stories, she noticed a similar pattern.
“These stories say a lot about the structure around the Kurdish history on mainstream media and the struggles for recognition.”
Ms Dogan believes Kurdish experiences in the mainstream media are not told by Kurds themselves and instead are expressed through miss appropriation.
“Therefore, we don’t really get to hear from a subjective point of view, what that trauma felt like for that person,” she said, adding, “I guess this film shows that it’s not just about analysing data of Kurdish historical events or as such - it’s about hearing their respective perspective what that experience really feels like just like Roza says in the film.”
She felt a huge responsibility to do Ms Germian's story justice, explaining that one of the main challenges was reducing their two-hour interview to a 13-minute short film.
“I felt responsible for how I portray Roza’s story in an ethical manner and not all experiences are in this short film so that was sort of a challenge for me at that time."
The message behind the film, for Ms Dogan, was about remembering the past events and giving recognition to the cultural history.
“I think all cultures are valuable and they have to recall their own history.”
Watch Being Kurd below:
A short film festival and coronavirus
COVID-19 has crippled the performing arts sector, including the film and entertainment industries, as cinemas have been forced to close their doors.
Vonne Patiag is a film director from Western Sydney and the curator for Western Sydney Shorts by Blacktown Arts and CuriousWorks.
"The film festival came about because I had worked with Blacktown Arts last year on Blacktown Shorts, which was a live film festival, they got in touch with me about a month ago, and they were looking to adapt a lot of their existing programs online and through digital means to respond to the COVID-19 lockdown," he explains.
The festival is screening eight films in total all by local filmmakers. Mr Patiag explains that the organisers wanted to expand the talent pool this year to include films from all over Western Sydney.
"Each film is actually from a different neighbourhood in Western Sydney, as we know Western Sydney is such a big region, so we have films from Campbelltown, from Parramatta, from Blacktown, from Mt Druitt."
He says the films being screened in the program deal with questions of identity.
"What is amazing is that I feel that a lot of Western Sydney artists intrinsically do create a lot of work about identity, it is something that I've noticed. Being from the area myself, I'm sort of obsessed with that idea as well.
“I think a lot of filmmakers working in this area are looking at their surroundings and trying to make sense of their own stories in this world.
"The defiant through-line is the examination of identity and place and a vision of a different type of Australia that you don't normally see.”
The streaming period for the festival ends on June 22.
Listen to Vonne Patiag interview with SBS Kurdish below:
LISTEN TO
Western Sydney Shorts, first online film festival in Sydney
SBS Kurdish
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