EXCLUSIVE: Principal photography has begun in Duhok, Iraqi Kurdistan, on Afghan writer-director Siddiq Barmak’s third feature ‘The Postman’.
Set in Kabul in 1992, Barmak’s screenplay tells the story of an ordinary man, postman Amir, played by the Iraqi-Kurdish actor-director Hussein Hassan Ali, struggling to survive in a town on the brink of great and tragic change.
The cast also includes Iranian-French actress Mina Kavani, known for Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, and the Kurdish actress Diman Zandi who appeared with Hassan Ali in Peter Ott’s The Milan Protocol.
Shooting continues until March, with some final scenes to be shot in Berlin. The German theatrical release will be handled by AF Media.
The Postman is a co-production between Germany’s Epik Filmproduktion and Mitos Film with France’s l’atelier documentaire and Turkey’s MRK Films with public broadcaster ZDF and in cooperation with ARTE and eyrie entertainment.
Barmak’s debut feature Osama received a Camera d’or special mention when it premiered in Cannes in 2003 and subsequently was awarded the best international feature film Golden Globe in 2004. His second feature, 2008 black comedy Opium War, was submitted as Afghanistan’s entry for the 2009 Oscars.
Epik CEO Hüseyin Tabak told Screen they first met Barmak in November 2021 at Duhok International Film Festival, when it had a focus on cinema from Afghanistan to show solidarity with the country following the return of the Taliban to power that summer.
“Mehmet had always said to me that Duhok looks like Kabul in the 1990s and when we spoke with Siddiq this then led to us coming onboard as producers,” said Tabak.
No comments yet