In a Syrian border village in the early 1980s, young Sero attends school for the first time. A new teacher has arrived with the goal of making strapping Pan-Arabic comrades out of the Kurdish children. To enable paradise to come to earth, he uses the rod to forbid the Kurdish language, orders the veneration of Assad and preaches hate of the “Zionist enemy”—the Jews. The lessons upset and confuse Sero because his longtime neighbors are a lovable Jewish family. With a fine sense of humor and satire, the film depicts a childhood which manages to find light moments between dictatorship and dark drama. The film was inspired by the director’s personal experiences, and so his bittersweet memories connect the Syrian tragedy to the present.

Amidst the backdrop of Syria's current political developments, this film provides a deeply human lens on Kurdish experiences that are often misrepresented—or absent—in mainstream narratives.

Following the screening, join us for a Q&A session with the director, Mano Khalil.