London's First Kurdish Pop Up Cinema kicked off as an one-off cinema event organised by London Kurdish Film Festival and Portobello Pop Up Cinema.

"Syria Now, Remember Halabja" & "Kurdish Cinema: a journey through war and exile" is the slogan of the two day event which has been dedicated to the great film-maker Taha Karimi who died recently this year aged 38.

The event which started yesterday with the screening of five films and continued with panel discussions with Kurdish film makers aims to bring urgent attention to the people, region and radical cinema of Kurdistan territory.

The special one-off film-event is taking place at the Portobello Pop Up Cinema, a reclaimed arts space under the Westway motorway.

‘London’s first ‘Kurdish Pop-Up' opened with Taha Karimi’s tour-de-force critique of the West and its multinationals: Oil, The Cancer Of My City. (The Kurdish Film Pop-Up is dedicated to the great film-maker Taha Karimi). This was followed by the very rarely screened in the U.K:Halabja, the lost children, dir: Akram Hidou. Seen from Kurdish eyes: this is a rare glimpse onto the brutal devastation and raw healing following the viscous air born nerve-gas attack on the Iraqi -Kurdish city of Halabja on March 16,1988, when at least 5,000 people died. Made in 2011 this affecting and heart-wrenching film carries a very chilling foreboding for events in Syria today. At these critical times this is a film that needs the widest public attention.

Saturday's program will witness the presentation of pioneering author Mizgin Arslan's short-film: Asya, plus Rojin by Chiman Rahimi. Next is the most ambitious Kurdish film masterpiece, Mandoo (Fatigued: winner of the ‘Yerevan Golden Apricot’ Dir: Ebrahim Saeedi).

On Saturday at 18.00 pm, there will also be a special ‘film-extra screening’ of Saddam’s Road To Hell, Dir Gwynne Roberts. & White Mountain, Dir Taha Karimi, two films critical to better understanding events on the ground today.

On Saturday night there will be a special panel debate with celebrated Kurdish film-makers (which the audience can join) discussing: ‘What is Kurdish Cinema (Kurdistan to London): A journey through war & exile?’