Award: Best Acting Award – 6th edition of the Kobani International Film Festival 2025 “Here the Story Begins”

The film received the Best Acting Award for Kristin Grue’s emotionally restrained and psychologically precise performance, through which she conveyed fear, anxiety, and emotional collapse using silence, facial expression, and inner tension rather than direct dialogue.

Synopsis:

Inside an ordinary train carriage, a fleeting everyday moment slowly transforms into a suffocating psychological and moral dilemma. Sara discovers an abandoned bag on the train and gradually becomes consumed by suspicions about what might be hidden inside.

Caught between survival instinct and fear of making the wrong decision, she enters a silent confrontation with herself, where inner anxiety becomes the true engine of the film. Rather than relying on external action, the story builds its rhythm through silence, fragmented reactions, and the growing sensation of danger.

The confined train compartment turns into a claustrophobic psychological space, while the camera slowly approaches the protagonist’s face to reveal emotional fragility and inner collapse. Through intense visual construction and escalating tension, the film becomes a reflection on collective fear, human conscience, and survival in a world shaped by permanent uncertainty.

About the Director:

Shokat Harjo is a Kurdish actor, filmmaker, and producer originally from Kobane in Rojava, northern Syria, currently based in Norway. His artistic journey began early, driven by a desire to transform personal memory and human experience into cinematic language.

In 2012, he was injured during an ISIS attack on his village before arriving in Norway in 2015, where he pursued acting professionally and studied performance academically. He later appeared in Norwegian productions including Gritt and Netflix’s Billionaire Island.

He founded the production company Honning Film, through which he developed short films and theatrical projects. His cinematic work often combines psychological tension with personal memory and human-centered storytelling.