Kick Off

Three hundred families have taken refuge in improvised shelters in a derelict football stadium in the city of Kirkuk. They returned to their country after the fall of Saddam Hussein only to find that their dwellings were destroyed by the war. The local authorities want to clear the area. Enterprising Asu wants nothing more than to please his depressed brother, who lost a leg to a landmine, and perhaps get a little closer to his attractive neighbor Hilin. To these ends, he decides to organize a football tournament where the members of various nations will compete: Kurds, Arabs, Turks, and Assyrians. He even earns the support of a television station. Wind blows across the playing field, a horse canters, a helicopter circles above the stadium, and bombs can sometimes be heard close by.… Can the athletic spirit and the will to forge friendships overcome the sorrow and consequences of war? A stadium in Kirkuk full of refugees actually existed. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)