Angels of Sinjar

Angels of Sinjar
refugees
Middle East
women in film
Germany, Poland
2022
109min
Kumanji, English
Hungarian Premiere
International Competition
Director
Hanna Polak
Producer: 
Hanna Polak
Simone Baumann
Editor: 
Marcin Kot Bastkowski
Hanna Polak
Cinematographer: 
Hanna Polak
Mariusz Margas
Mykhailo Puziurin
Sound: 
Bartez Putkiewicz
Music: 
Łukasz Pieprzyk
Production info: 
HBO Max, Hanna Polak Films, Saxonia Entertainment
Distribution info: 
Deckert Distribution Hanne Biermann hanne@deckert-distribution.com
Festivals and Awards: 
Millenium Docs Against Gravity 2022 Special Mention in the Best Polish Film Award Competition
Hot Docs 2022
European Film Awards 2022 Best Documentary Nominee

In 2014, the so-called Islamic State attempted to exterminate the Yazidis, an ethnic-religious group living in the Sinjar region of northwest Iraq. Murdering the men, they captured women and girls, some of whom became victims of repeated sexual abuse. Hanifa and two of her sisters refuse to be “just” victims and allow the trauma of this genocide to consume their identities. Hanifa is determined to free her three other sisters from captivity. With the help of brave volunteers, she searches for them in refugee camps and among IS members. Will the abducted girls be found and reunited with their families? Will the traumatized Yazidis ever regain some feeling of normalcy?

Director

Auteur-director Hanna Polak (1967, Katowice, Poland) has Oscar and Emmy nominations under her belt for Children of Leningradsky, and a Producer Guild of America nomination for Something Better To Come, amongst many other awards and accolades. Her emotional bond with her protagonists allows her to deliver visceral, poetic films that celebrate the power of the human spirit, and portray the beauty of humanity in the most adverse circumstances.