Girls of the Sun

War drama from Syria, with female Peshmerga soldiers at the front line.

Somewhere in Kurdistan we meet Bahar, an officer of the Peshmerga leading a battalion of woman warriors in the fight against ISIS. Experienced war reporter Mathilde allows us to get to know Bahar, her dreadful personal history and her ruthless fight. Mathilde is covering the war, and her assignment is to explore the battles on the front line with an eye on the female fighters of the Kurdish army.

It is difficult not to be moved when Bahar really opens up to Mathilde, and lays bare the gruesome destinies of herself and her family – not least when we know that this is much like the very real destinies of countless women and families in the ongoing fight against ISIS.

This powerful drama brought director Eva Husson all the way to the main competition in Cannes. She has chosen to focus on the efforts of the women who have taken part in the fight against ISIS in Syria, by telling one of tens of thousands of stories about abuse and oppression. But this is also the story of women who will not be subdued, who will raise arms and fight back, by any means necessary, against the oppressors of their families and their people.