Launched at the Cannes Film Festival and now preparing to open its first call for applications, the Kurdistan Film Fund represents a major new investment in Kurdish storytelling, talent and the long-term future of the region’s audiovisual industry.
For generations, Kurdish stories have travelled across borders, passed between communities and survived through language, memory and culture. Yet Kurdish filmmakers have often lacked the institutional support and financing structures needed to develop those stories and bring them to international audiences.
The launch of the Kurdistan Film Fund marks a significant step towards changing that.
Founded by Bavi Yassin as part of a wider strategy to strengthen Kurdistan’s audiovisual ecosystem, the Kurdistan Film Fund will provide financial support to Kurdish filmmakers and projects with a meaningful connection to Kurdish identity, culture, language, communities and narratives.
With an annual funding allocation of $2m, the fund will support projects across different stages of the filmmaking process, including development, production, co-production, post-production and distribution. The annual allocation will be distributed through two application cycles each year.
“This fund is the culmination of years of work, belief, and a deep conviction that Kurdish cinema deserves its place on the world stage,” says Bavi Yassin, founder and president of the Kurdistan Film Commission, Kurdistan Film Fund, and Creative Kurdistan. “With the Kurdistan Film Fund, we are not just investing in films, we are investing in a generation of Kurdish storytellers and in the future of our cultural identity.”
A historic step for Kurdish storytelling
The Kurdistan Film Fund was officially introduced to the international film industry during the Cannes Film Festival, placing Kurdish cinema and its future ambitions at the centre of one of the world’s most important film markets. The $2m annual fund was officially unveiled at the Marché du Film in May 2026.
The announcement represented more than the launch of a new funding mechanism. It was a statement of intent.
For Yassin and the team behind the Kurdistan Film Commission, the fund forms part of a broader vision to build the foundations required for a sustainable film industry, one that supports filmmakers not only in creating individual projects, but in developing careers, building international relationships and contributing to a stronger creative economy.
It is also about taking greater ownership of how Kurdish stories are represented.
“Throughout history, others have been telling our stories,” Yassin said during the fund’s launch at Cannes. “We want to tell our stories from our own perspective, not from others, to put ourselves on the map through art and culture and the creative industries.”
The Kurdistan Film Commission has already begun developing this wider ecosystem through workshops, masterclasses, film labs, education initiatives and international engagement. Its presence at Cannes in both 2025 and 2026 created new conversations around Kurdistan as an emerging film destination and opened doors for collaboration with producers, industry professionals and international partners. The Commission has also used its international presence to connect Kurdish projects directly with established producers and industry professionals.
The film fund now adds a major new layer to that work.
As Yassin puts it: “The long-term goal is very simple: to build a new industry in Kurdistan.”
Supporting Kurdish filmmakers around the world
The fund will be open to Kurdish filmmakers and projects from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq as well as the wider Kurdish diaspora.
Projects will need to demonstrate a meaningful connection to Kurdish identity, culture, language, communities or narratives.
This international approach reflects the reality of the Kurdish community itself. Kurdish storytellers, filmmakers and creative professionals live and work across different countries, industries and cultures, while remaining connected through a shared heritage and identity.
The Kurdistan Film Fund aims to create opportunities for those voices to be supported and brought together through a common platform.
The fund has an annual allocation of $2m, distributed through two application cycles each year. The first call for applications will open on September 1 and run until October 16.
Projects across short films, medium-length films, feature films and TV series will be eligible for support under the fund’s categories.
The ambition, however, goes beyond the number of projects supported.
“It is not about quantity; it is about the quality,” Yassin said at Cannes.
The objective is to help Kurdish productions reach stronger professional and international standards while creating the structures filmmakers need to develop sustainable careers.
Building connections beyond funding
A central part of the Kurdistan Film Fund’s vision is international collaboration.
The goal is to help Kurdish filmmakers connect with producers, financiers, broadcasters, distributors, festivals and other industry professionals around the world, creating opportunities that go beyond direct financial support.
“This is a gateway that we are opening for international institutions and also regional ones to work with our Kurdish talents,” Yassin said at Cannes.
The strategy is two-directional: creating pathways for Kurdish filmmakers into the international industry while opening Kurdistan itself to international collaboration, co-production and production.
Yassin has previously described the fund as being about creating “ownership, continuity, and visibility” for Kurdish stories internationally, while simultaneously encouraging global creators and producers to engage with Kurdish talent.
At the same time, the Kurdistan Film Commission is continuing to build relationships internationally and position the Kurdistan Region as a destination for film and audiovisual production.
With diverse landscapes, mountains, waterfalls, forests, cities and historical locations, Kurdistan offers production possibilities that remain relatively undiscovered by much of the international industry.
The Commission is working to connect these opportunities with growing global interest in new production destinations and emerging film industries. Yassin has also highlighted the combination of diverse locations, accessibility, production support and cost effectiveness as part of Kurdistan’s proposition to international productions.
Beyond funding: building an ecosystem
The Kurdistan Film Fund is one part of a much larger ambition.
Building a sustainable film industry requires more than financing individual projects. It requires talent development, education, professional opportunities, infrastructure, international partnerships and a long-term commitment to the people working within the industry.
That is the ecosystem the Kurdistan Film Commission is working towards.
And Yassin is clear that funding alone will not be enough.
“We are not just going to give money away,” she said during the Cannes discussion. “We will train the local talents that we fund through professional training programmes.”
Through the Commission’s growing programme of workshops, masterclasses, film labs and international engagement, Kurdish filmmakers are being given opportunities to develop their skills and connect with the wider industry. Recent programmes have included professional training in areas such as producing, financing, location management and production skills.
The fund adds the financial foundation needed to help transform those opportunities into actual projects.
For Kurdish filmmakers, this creates the possibility not only to develop and produce films, but to think bigger about where those films can go and who they can reach.
For the industry, it represents an important step towards building a sustainable structure that can support future generations.
For Kurdish audiences around the world, it creates the possibility of seeing more stories told from within the culture itself.
And for Kurdistan, Yassin sees cinema as having an impact far beyond the screen. She has argued that a developed audiovisual sector can create jobs and services, strengthen infrastructure, attract businesses and productions, support cultural tourism and influence how Kurdistan is perceived internationally.
“We don’t want starving filmmakers,” Yassin said at Cannes. “We want a filmmaker who peacefully can make his films, who can tell our stories, and who can walk on that red carpet representing a story that we wanted the world to see.”
The Kurdistan Film Fund is now preparing to take its first step.
Applications open September 1.
For more information about the Kurdistan Film Fund and the application process, visit the Kurdistan Film Commission’s official channels.
Contact: info.fund@creativekurdistan.krd
Website: creativekurdistan.krd
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