about the film

In Close Up Kurds, director Yuksel Yavuz, known for his features Little Freedom and April Children, creates a connection between his personal story of migration and Turkey’s Kurdish problem. He embarks on a journey which takes him from Hamburg through Stockholm to Turkey, ending in the north of Iraq, in the camp Maxmur. On his way, he encounters and speaks to people on all sides of the conflict. The film combines political facts with personal stories and asks critical questions of a complicated and painful history. As the director puts it, the film is an attempt to bring the Kurdish and the Turkish populations together.

about the director

Yüksel Yavuz was born in Karakoçan, Turkey in 1964. He studied National Economy and Sociology at the University for Economics and Politics in Hamburg, then enrolled in 1992 at the University of Plastic Arts in Hamburg to study visual communication. His films include the documentaries 100 and one Mark (1994), My Father Was a Guestworker (1995), his first feature April Children (1998), his short The Man With the White Coat (2000), and Little Freedom (2003).

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