The End Will Be Spectacular

Between 2012 and 2019, the Kurds set up a 'stateless democracy' in Rojava, northern Syria, based on local self-governance, gender equality and a communal economy. The Rojava Film Commune was established in 2015, in the middle of the Syrian civil war, to make films based on that region's reality. The End Will Be Spectacular is an uncompromising war film about resistance fighters who are attempting in 2015 to break the Turkish siege of Sur, the historic heart of the Turkish-Kurdish city of Diyarbakir. The hundred-day battle claims many victims and Sur is almost entirely destroyed. Some of the survivors play lead roles in this film by Ersin Çelik, a member of the Rojava Film Commune. The film tells the story of Zilan, a young woman who returns to family and friends in Diyarbakir to honour the memory of her dead brother. She is suddenly caught up in the violent struggle with the police and the army. A story of ideals, struggle, friendship, loss and self-sacrifice, set against a seemingly hopeless conflict. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)