Boasting a title that packs a significant punch, No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman has premiered out of competition at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. Writing and directing are by Kurdish-Norwegian filmmaker Halkawt Mustafa (Hiding Saddam Hussein), who brings us a 24-year-old lean, mean killing machine with a million-dollar bounty on her head, courtesy of Islamic State, and bearing some very bad tidings – for Islamic State.

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The Peshmerga, the internal Kurdistan security forces, provides quite an exceptional dynamic enabling emancipation in a Middle Eastern setting, as it employs female fighters. In 2014, the female count significantly increased during the war against IS, the main reasons given being a shortage of manpower and a desire for revenge – and with it, some trauma management. Hard-boiled Vian, memorably played by Avan Jamal with compact energy and the movements of a panther, subscribes to the latter and has an additional motive: finding her younger sister Helin, who's been sold off to an IS soldier. Not too long ago, the two led a harmonious life in tidy Norway, having settled there since childhood, until, during a visit with their parents to Iraqi Kurdistan, they are ambushed by IS, and only Vian and Helin are spared after a coldblooded massacre. Vian escapes and joins the forces, emerging as a markswoman to be reckoned with. Her pursuit takes her to the rubble-filled and IS-controlled city of Mosul, where her sister may have been spotted in the company of someone called The Swedish Sniper. A showdown is around the corner, but exactly which corner...? It's classic nail-biting action time.

Classic is also a keyword when it comes to Mustafa's handling of this ultimately deeply humanitarian account. There are touches of Lara Croft and of a hard-hitting 1970s revenge flick coupled with Vian's gritty but poetic voiceover (“Peshmerga means ‘before death’ – until then, we're alive”). A diametrical and quite hilarious contrast is provided through the very tidy Norwegian location, where the authorities are not at all at ease with one of their citizens roaming around with a million-dollar price on her head. The film juxtaposes these settings effectively and excellently, via the lens of DoP John Erling H Fredriksen (Amanda-awarded for Narvik) and not least thanks to the authentic locations of actual Mosul.

No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman, co-produced by Norway, Iraq, the UAE and Sweden (hence that sniper guy?) has just been confirmed as Iraq's 2027 Oscar submission (see the news). Whether it will get further down the line is up in the air, but it deserves a special award for its ingenious title alone. Which in Vian's case is good for at least 100 heavenly rejects.

No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman was produced by Hene Film with co-production by La Media and The Chimney Pot. Its world sales are by True Colours.