VENICE 2026 Venice Open Out of Competition
Halkawt Mustafa • Director of No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman
“The film’s originality very much lies in the fact that it was shot where it was shot”
by Jan Lumholdt
- VENICE 2026: The Norwegian-Kurdish director breaks down the origins of his hard-hitting story about a young Peshmerga fighter in search of her sister, captured by ISIS
“Surely a good title,” or words to that effect, were uttered by festival director Alberto Barbera at the unveiling of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival programme this summer. The out of competition-entered No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman by Norwegian-Kurdish helmer Halkawt Mustafa is a hard-hitting story of a young Peshmerga fighter in search of her sister, captured by ISIS. We spoke to him about the film’s origins and how his own personal story intertwines with the narrative.
Cineuropa: Can you talk about the background of your film and how it interweaves with your own journey?
Halkawt Mustafa: In 2014, I was working as a war photographer, and we decided to go to the ISIS frontline to do a report for TV2 in Norway. There, I met young women, some maybe 18 or 20, fighting IS – quite literally standing up against the darkness. There we were, on the frontline: it was September and it was raining, and that picture stayed with me and made me decide to make this film. On a personal note, we moved from Iraqi Kurdistan to Norway when I was young; I've seen my mother and women of her generation standing up for our people. Through this film, I aim to portray the Kurdish women.
Impressively, you've used some real locations, from the actual battleground. Can you talk about that process?
This is something I was fighting for. I didn't want to shoot in Morocco or Jordan, but in the real Mosul in Iraq, which got me into trouble with the Scandinavian production companies, who demanded insurance in order to give me the greenlight. There isn't really an insurance company that will cover something in the middle of Iraq, you know. But I fought for it, and today, I think its originality very much lies in the fact that it was shot where it was shot – the location really became a character in the movie. I think it's a big reason as to why we were invited to Venice.
The main character, of course, is Vian. And Avan Jamal, who plays her, is a great find. How did you come across this actress, who as of yet seems to have done quite few film roles?
Avan Jamal also worked very hard on this film, in order to get into as real a character as possible. She trained at a sniper camp and came out the other side almost fully fledged, just for this film. I spent two years looking for the right Vian, meeting with several superstars along the way, because I thought I should have someone famous. We did test shoots with two or three of them with big crews, but I eventually realised that we needed someone from the original region, with a Kurdish background and a Kurdish soul, to make the movie more relevant to the story. My line producer had been working with Avan for her first movie, and when I saw her, I just went, “Wow!” She lives in the UK, but has a Kurdish and also Swedish backstory.
Your film has a classical feel to it. Can you talk about any inspirations?
Most inspirations come from authentic cases I've come across, like a Swedish family going to find their daughter who became an ISIS member, another family looking for a son, and a Danish woman who came and fought ISIS. I've worked with a mix of inspirations from different places. There's one movie where the feeling and the slowness really impressed me, which is the first part of Sicario. I also took inspiration from myself when we see Vian back in Norway. There she's me, quite simply.
The scenes from Norway add a fantastic dimension to the film: the order, the cleanliness… The light is in stark contrast to the Mosul scenario.
That scenario was inspired by my own daughter. I was on the frontline, working, and I saw a family on the run from ISIS, desperately trying to find a shadow to hide in. I travelled back to Norway, where my daughter made a big fuss – because she wouldn’t eat her rice without ketchup! It gives you a perspective on the different brutalities of life, you know.
You've even dedicated your film to your daughters, it says in the end credits.
Yes, exactly. I have three daughters, and they deserve to know where I'm coming from, as a person, who I am, and who the Kurdish women are. And I hope they'll like it.
What does the name Vian mean?
Vian means “love” in Kurdish. I met a real Vian on the front, and she was very strong.
And Halkawt?
Halkawt means “he who amounted to something”!
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