Land of The Heroes (Shortfilm shot on location in Iraq)

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

'Land of the heroes' also got a honourable mention at 29th young audience festival Ale Kino - Poland.

Jury motivation:

The Jury would like to award an honourable mention to the film “Land of the Heroes” directed by SAHIM OMAR KALIFA for:

- its unconventional presentation of the subject of conflict
- the intelligent, witty play with the cinemagoers and with humour
- the masterly use of space
- the apt metaphor of a box
- solid acting of the young stars
- vividness of the visual imagery combined with the natural severeness
- the emotions.

 

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

This week director Sahim omar Kalifa has been awarded a medaille by the kurdish ministry of culture for his accomplishement with his short film 'Land of the Heroes'!

 

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

Yesterday evening 'Land of the Heroes' has won his tenth award. We won the Golden movie award (aka Grand Prize) at the 17th Honk Kong independent short film festival.

 

[Lliam Worthington]

Looks fantastic.

Please ley us know when we can see the full short. Pretty rare I really can't wait to see a short film.

Congratulations.

Best

Lliam

 

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

Since the film is still going strong in the festival circuit I can not yet post a public link.
If anybody wants to see it, pm me and i will send you a private link.

 

[Michael Ou]

Wow, I am hooked! Must PM you for that private link now!

 

[Michael Ou]

Kobe, that was some piece! Every single frame had my full attention. I feel like there's so much more to tell, or so many questions left unanswered. That's not a criticism, but a compliment, I want to see more.

Great work! And well deserved success! Any plans to develop a feature out of this? I would certainly go see it.

Thanks again for sharing your work with us!

 

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

Thanks for the comment! Glad you enjoyed the short.
At the moment we are working on a new short film which will also be shot in Iraq this summer and we are developping a feature screenplay with the same director (Sahim Omar Kalifa).

 

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

Yesterday evening 'Land of the Heroes' won his 11th award (Rio Tinto Alcan award) at the International Short Film Festival Saguenay (Canada).
Two awards in two days. Great weekend

 

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

Land of the Heroes has won the Jury Award for Best Short Fillm at the Kingbonn international film festival in China.
The price money is 50.000 dollars which is the same amount as the original shooting budget!

In attachement a picture of the director Sahim Omar Kalifa with the price.

The video of the ceremony can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i36mTvk8Jw0


Since the film is still going strong in the festival circuit I can not yet post a public link.
If anybody wants to see it, pm me and i will send you a private link.

 

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

Sahim Omar Kalifa’s short film Land of the Heroes has won the Jury Award for Best International Short Film at the Film Leben Festival in Ilmenau, Germany (5-8 July). This latest is the 13th award this remarkable short has now won.

In the international competition, Land of the Heroes took on nine other shorts from all over the world. ‘Film Life’ was the theme of the short film festival, which took place for the first time this year in the historic university town of Ilmenau.

In the 17-minute film, director Sahim Omar Kalifa goes back to his youth in Iraq. In the war-torn country, three kids are killing time. While their mother and aunt are polishing artillery, the children want to watch cartoons on TV, but all they see on the small screen is Saddam Hussein’s victory propaganda.

 

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

Sahim Omar Kalifa’s Land of the Heroes, has won both Best Direction and Best Editing awards at the LAW International Short Film Festival (8-12 August) in Erbil, Iraq. The successful short can now boast no less than 15 awards and 80 festival selections in total.

At the festival, the film came out on top in a competition of 26 short films. It was the short’s first ever official screening in Iraqi Kurdistan, the birth region of director Sahim Omar Kalifa. The film also received a Special Mention for Extraordinary Achievement from the Kurdish Minister of Culture. After Iraq, Land of the Heroes has screenings lined up in Xian, New York, Revine and Dohuk.

 

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

At the Dohuk International Film Festival (9 – 16 Sept), Sahim Omar Kalifa’s Land of the Heroes grabbed 2nd place on the podium. The short film was awarded silver in the fest’s Best Short Film competition.

Director Sahim Omar Kalifa was especially pleased with the recent award, already no. sixteen, as he was born in the province of Dohuk, Iraq, where the festival is held. The jury praised the short for the depth and detail of the story and its link to society and history.

 

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

'Land of the heroes' is two times runner-up at the Hangzhou International film festival (China): silver public award and silver jury award.

Two years in the festival circuit and we are still going strong.

 

[Kobe Van Steenberghe]

'Land of the heroes' has won the Best Short film award at the Amed International Film Festival in turkey.

This is award number 19 for 'Land of the heroes' with almost 100 selections worldwide.