RONAHÎ NÛDA

Shengal (Sinjar) - On March 3,2017, journalist Nûjiyan Erhan (Tuğba Akyılmaz) was shot in the head by the forces of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)while covering a clashes broke out in the Xanesor town of Shengal. Nûjiyan Erhan, who was seriously injured, was taken to the Hasakah Hospital; however, she died at the hospital on March 22. Nûjiyan Erhan had stayed in Shengal after ISIS attacks and reported the stories of the Yazidi women holding on to life again and resisting. Despite all the challenges, she kept reporting the truths to the end. Filmmaker Jînda Asmen shot a documentary film titled “Nûjiyan” telling the life and struggle of journalist Nûjiyan Erhan.

The documentary film will be first screened in Shengal

Filmmaker Jînda Asmen began to shoot the documentary film in 2019 and completed it in 2021. The documentary film stars Ferîde Zade as Nûjiyan.  The film will be first screened in Xanesor town of Shengal on May 28 and then in Shengal on May 29 and in Hasakah on June 17. NuJINHA spoke to Jînda Asmen about the documentary film.

“I fulfilled her will”

“We decided to shoot a documentary film about the lives of revolutionaries in 2017. Nûjiyan and I were in Shengal at that time. The life of every revolutionary is a film, song, story and poetry. Before Nûjiyan was martyred, we had discussed on some issues, she asked me to tell her life as a revolutionary woman. After she was killed, I knew that I should fulfill her will. You feel a great pain when you lost your comrades but being a martyr is a fact of the revolution. You have to sacrifice your lives to build a revolution. My responsibility was to fulfill Nûjiyan’s will and I did. If I had not fulfilled Nûjiyan's will, I would have felt incomplete,” Jînda Asmen told us.

Stating that they began to shoot the documentary film in 2019, Jînda Asmen said, “We shot the documentary film in Shengal, where Nûjiyan lived and breathed her last. We completed the film in 2021. Our aim was to screen the documentary on the death anniversary of Nûjiyan Erhan but we had to postpone it due to current situation in Shengal. We shot the documentary film in Shengal, Kobanê, Serêkaniyê, Derik and Maxmur.”

“It tells the stories of revolutionary women”

“Every revolutionary has a path and follows this path. Revolutionaries never stop because they know that their path is not an easy path,” Jînda Asmen said that the documentary film tells the stories of revolutionary women. “Nûjiyan means new life. Nûjiyan had a purpose and fought for that purpose. Her struggle started in the city of Riha (Urfa) and ended in Shengal. She was a journalist in the revolution. She wanted to tell the truths. The Nûjiyan documentary film tells the live of each revolutionary woman.”

The film will be screened in three languages

Talking about the content of the documentary film, Jînda Asmen noted that they tell the reality of the war and the pain of the Yazidi community through the eyes of revolutionary women. “A genocide was committed against the Yazidis and whole world kept silent against this genocide. The KDP could have protected the Yazidi people but it didn’t. The Kurdish people should unite and protect our identity. This documentary film reveals this reality. We tried to tell the reality of war and dirty politics in this documentary film. The friends of Nûjiyan also act in the film and Nûjiyan's interviews are also included in the documentary. The documentary film will be screened in three languages.

Jînda Asmen called on everyone to watch the Nûjiyan documentary film, saying, “Every woman is a Nûjiyan; makes decisions about her life. I call on everyone to watch this documentary film.”