The third edition of Filmamed Documentary Film Festival opened on Saturday in Diyarbakır. The festival is dedicated to Sakine Cansız, a co-founder of PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), Fidan Doğan, KNK (Kurdistan National Congress) Paris representative, and Leyla Şaylemez, member of the Kurdish youth movement, who were killed in the French capital Paris on 9 January.

The festival begun on Saturday and will run until 25 May. It is organized by Kayapınar Municipality's Cegerxwin Youth and Cultural Center and the Association of Middle East Cinema Academy.

Speaking about the film festival, its coordinator Haşim Aydemir said that they would make a positive discrimination to women in this year's festival for it has been dedicated to women. “We are attaching a particular importance to the movies on women's struggle and to the movies by woman film makers, especially is countering the dominant male perspective in cinema across the world. The  positive discrimination for women will also be present in the debates: woman film makers will discuss the “women in cinema”.

Calling attention to the festival's importance for the people, Aydemir said that “The events of this year's festival are of importance for the institutionalization of the festival which we see as an alternative and independent event that aims to enable people to reach the movies that are not displayed in other festivals across the country. It is also of importance in terms of conveying cultural, artistic and social values to the people and creating a social memory for the people of Kurdistan and other peoples, paving the way for their production of their own movies”. Aydemir remarked that the festival also aimed to contribute to the Kurdish cinema by bringing Kurdish film makers from different countries together.

Aydemir said 17 movies and 25 documentary films will meet the audience in this year's festival, noting that the interest in the festival was growing every year.

He added that the movies will be displayed at  Cegerxwin Youth and Cultural Center and the European Cinema hall in Galeria.