Snow Leopard Competition | Centerpiece
No Paradise if You are Killed by a Woman
بەهەشت نابینیت ئەگەر ژن بتکوژێت
Iraq’s Submission for the 99th Academy Awards®
110 min | War, Romance | 2026 | Norway, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Sweden | Vietnamese | English Subs
Synopsis:
Vyan, a Kurdish female sniper, has survived war by shutting down her emotions. When she learns her younger sister, believed lost during ISIS’ 2014 assault, may still be alive in Mosul, she returns to a city shaped by death and destruction. Her search becomes both a rescue mission and a confrontation with the trauma she has spent years trying to silence.
Schedule
Nov 13, 2026 @ 04:30 PM
Director
Halkawt Mustafa
Halkawt Mustafa is a Norwegian-Kurdish director, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Iraqi Kurdistan, he relocated to Norway as a child and studied film directing in Oslo. At 23, he made his feature directorial debut with Red Heart, followed by his breakthrough film El Clásico, which served as Iraq’s official Oscar submission and won top honors at the Tribeca Film Festival. His acclaimed documentary Hiding Saddam Hussein premiered at IDFA and became the highest-grossing documentary at the Arab box office.
Beyond feature filmmaking, Mustafa has worked as a journalist and war photographer across Iraq, Syria, and Gaza. His frontline experiences with Kurdish female fighters inspired his feature No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and was selected as Iraq’s official entry for the Academy Awards.
Credits
Director:
Halkawt Mustafa
Halkawt Mustafa
John M. Jacobsen
Janne Hjeltnes
Producer:
Avan Jamal
Thorbjørn Harr
Kanar Sarchl
Kader Jalal
Cast:
Cinematographer:
John Erling H. Fredriksen
Editor:
Wibecke Rønseth
