FilmAmed Film Jury

On this page you can find the jury members of the FilmAmed Documentary Film Festival along with their short biographies.

Ayşe Polat

Director/Screenwriter/Producer

German-Kurdish director, screenwriter, and producer Ayşe Polat was born in Malatya and grew up in Hamburg.

After several award-winning shorts, she made her feature debut with Tour Abroad (1999).

Her second film, En Garde, received the Silver Leopard for Best Film at the Locarno Film Festival 2004.

She directed further features, the documentary The Others (2016), and several television films.

Her most recent feature, In the Blind Spot, premiered in the Encounters section of the 2023 Berlinale and went on to win 26 awards, including Best Film in Istanbul and Izmir, the German Independence Award in Oldenburg, and the Rojazer Award in London.

In 2024, it received Golden Lolas for Best Director and Best Screenplay, the Bronze Lola for Best Film, the German Film Critics’ Award for Best Screenplay, and the Bavarian Film Award for Best Director.

Ekrem Heydo

Director/D.O.P/Producer

Ekrem Heydo was born in 1973 in Serê Kaniyê in Rojava, Kurdish North-Syria.

In 1995 he came to Germany, after training in camera and editing in Hannover, Ekrem Heydo completed his directing studies at the Ruhr Academy for the Arts in Dortmund.

He has been living and working in Berlin since 2006.

With his first documentary Halabja - The Lost Children he won several international awards.

For his second film My Paradise (2016) he returned to his hometown Serêkaniyê in Syria.

A Bridge for Rojava is his new documentary.

Nazmi Karaman

Actor/Director

He was born in Gever, Colemêrg in 1978.

He graduated from the Acting Department of the Pera Academy of Fine Arts.

He acted in and directed theatre plays.

He appeared as an actor in numerous feature films, short films and television series.

He wrote and directed the short film Bêrû/Brazen.

Theatre Plays:
Çinur – Actor (2025)
Wezîrtî Para Min E- Director (2025)
Seyrana Li Çeper - Director (2023)
Haylo Disa Tevlihev Bu- Director (2022)
Mirin u Keçik – Director (2021)
Bêrû - Actor – Director (2018)

Films and television series in which he has appeared:
Vizontele Tuuba, Bahoz, Çok Film Hareketler Bunlar, Neşeli Hayat, Yol Arkadaşım, Köpek, Al Şafak, Hevî, Kurtuluş ve Rahma.

Hatırla Sevgili, Bir Demet Tiyatro, Çok Güzel Hareketler Bunlar, Bana Baba dedi, 3+1 Ev Yapımı Komedi ve Hinek Henek.

Shilan Saadi

Director- Documentarian

A native of Mahabad, a Kurdish city in northwestern Iran, I am an independent filmmaker and producer dedicated to exploring the cultural identity and resilience of the Kurdish people.

Holding a B.A. in Cinema from Soore University, I have also taken part in international programs such as Berlinale Talents 2019 and workshops at the Danish Film School.

My work spans both documentary and narrative films, with a strong focus on the lived realities of Kurdish women under political and social constraints.

Screened internationally and recognized with multiple awards, my films use cinema as a medium of cultural expression and resistance.

Filmography
Night and Fog in Kurdistan (2024)
5 Mothers and 1 Common (2020)
001 (2017)
My Grandma’s Daughter (2014)
An Alley Behind Our House (2010)
Clothes of Mukrian (2008)
The Lost Dream (2006)

Şêro Hindê

Director/Writer

He was born in Qamishlo in 1980.

After graduating from the archaeology department of the university, he worked as an archaeologist in many parts of Western Kurdistan.

In addition to archaeology, he began writing and working as a journalist. He also developed a keen interest in cinema.

Since the 2010s, he has directed numerous cinema and television works.

He also continues to work as a cinema instructor at the Rojava Higher Academy of Arts. He is one of the founders of Hunergeha Welat and Komina Film a Rojava.

Filmography
Stories of Ruined Cities (2017)
Mako is Cold (Short Film) (2014)
Our Legend (Musical Theatre) (2022)
The Red Braid Songs (Musical Theatre) (2023)
In the Shadow of the Mountain (Documentary) (2013)
Blunt Knife (Documentary) (2015)
Lonely Trees (Documentary) (2017)
Love on the Face of Massacre (Documentary) (2020)