PESHMERGA

by Bernard-Henri Lévy

SYNOPSIS

From July to December 2015, Bernard-Henri Lévy and a team of cameramen travelled the 1000 kilometres of the front line that separates Iraqi Kurdistan from Daesh's troupes. From this journey, comes a logbook in images that offers a privileged view of a war that is unfinished but whose stakes are of global importance. In close quarters with the Peshmergas, these Kurdish fighters who show unfailing determination in their fight against obscurantism and jihadi fundamentalism, the film takes us from the heights of Mosul to the heart of the Sinjar Mountains passing on the way via the last Christian monasteries threatened with destruction. Many remarkable characters make their mark on this account, men and women of an ilk one rarely encounters .

DETAILS

92 mins

2016

France, Iraq

Kurdish, Arabic, English, French

TRAILER

CREDITS

Directed by Bernard-Henri Lévy

With the assistance of Gilles Hertzog and Aziz Othman

Produced by François Margolin - Margo Cinema

Camera Crew: Ala Hoshyar Tayyeb, Olivier Jacquin, Camille Lotteau

Editing: Camille Lotteau

Sound: Antoine Bailly, Jean-Daniel Bécache, Thomas Fourel

Original Music: Nicolas Ker, Jean-Fabien Dijoud, Henri Graetz

With the support of KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government)

Coproduced with ARTE FRANCE CINEMA

In collaboration with CANAL PLUS and ARTE FRANCE

BIOGRAPHY

DIRECTOR - BERNARD-HENRI LEVY

Bernard-Henri Lévy, known most widely as a philosopher and nonfiction writer, is also a novelist, filmmaker, and playwright. He is the author of more than 40 books. Born in Beni Saf, Algeria, in 1948, he was one of the founders of the “New Philosophers” movement. A committed intellectual, he is known for his opposition to authoritarianism in its manifold forms and as a proponent of the “duty to intervene.”

Known universally as BHL, he is a columnist for numerous periodicals in France and abroad and chairs the advisory board of the French media network Arte. He is publisher of the review La Règle du jeu and manages the “Figures” collection at Grasset, a Paris publishing house.

SELECT FESTIVALS

CANNES 2016〡IDFA 2016〡JI.HLAVA IDFF 2016〡NEW YORK JEWISH FF 2017〡CPH:DOX 2017

PRESS

"An intellectually gripping tribute to Kurdish fighters battling Isis. Bernard-Henri Lévy travels into Iraq to document the Kurdish forces taking on Isis – and praises their commitment to equality as well as their bravery."
- The Guardian

"A breathtaking war film gloriously shot from Lévy’s long journey along the front lines of Isis."
- The Sunday Times

"It’s rare to attend a screening in Cannes whose guests of honor include several decorated war generals and a singer known as the 'Kurdish Madonna,' but that was the case for the premiere of Peshmerga, Bernard Henri-Levy’s gripping and somewhat flowery combat documentary."
- The Hollywood reporter