The 7th Culture and Art Festival, organized by the Rojava Intellectuals Union in Qamishlo, ended after 8 days of a rich and variegated programme.

The festival this year was organised despite the great difficulties and resulted in the most successful to date with a rich programme including theatre, cinema, readings, music.

The festival benefited from the participation of many intellectuals, artists, writers and poets and opened with the play staged by theatre actresses Medya Bekendî and Roşa Çolî.

At the final event, HRRK co-chair Welîd Bekir made a statement in Kurdish while HRRK member Meryem Temir made a statement in Arabic.

The statement reminded that the Rojava Intellectuals Union was founded in Qamishlo in 2016. This year there was a prize for the most creative group in the festival.

The award, said organisers, was given to encourage institutions and members to develop Kurdish culture and art. “The artistic talent and experience of those awarded are taken into consideration. We also looked at how their art influenced Rojava and the Kurds in Syria,” said the statement.

The statement underlined that “this year's award was to be given to those who contribute to the Kurdish language and culture and strive for the development of Kurdish literature.”

Deham Ebdulfetah and Marwan Berekat won the awards.

Among the appointments this year, a rich cinema programme delivered by Banos Film which rebuilt itself and its activities in Qamishlo after been forced to flee from Serekaniye, where it was born, after the Turkish invasion of 9 October 2019.