As part of the "Kurdistan Days" in Leipzig, the film A Bridge to Rojava by Ekrem Heydo will be shown on 12 August. The film is about the creation and development of the town twinning association Friedrichshain/Kreuzberg-Dêrik and its projects. But it also shows the everyday life of the people in north and north-east Syria and the ever-present threat posed by the Turkish army and its Islamist auxiliaries.

In order to discuss the possibilities and importance of an official town twinning with a town in Northern and Eastern Syria, the organizers will invite two activists from the town twinning association to comment on the film A Bridge to Rojava and report on their town twinning project. The event will begin at 8pm in the Pögehaus, Hedwigstrasse 20 in Leipzig.

The film

The film accompanies the members and co-founders of the town twinning association, Elke Dangeleit and H. Günter Kleff, on a journey in 2018 to Rojava. In order to prepare the signing of Germany's first city twinning with a city in Northern and Eastern Syria for the multicultural Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, the two met the co-mayors of the city of Dêrik. Based on the work of the town twinning association and the Berlin delegation's trip to Syria, the film paints a picture of the situation in Northern and Eastern Syria and shows the challenges faced by local people.