Rojek (film)

Rojek is a 2022 Canadian documentary film written, directed and produced by Zaynê Akyol.^[1] It is about the recovery of Kurdistan from the Rojava–Islamist conflict with a special emphasis on interviews with imprisoned former members of the Islamic State about their motivations.^[1] It was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.^[2]

Rojek
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Zaynê Akyol
Written by	Zaynê Akyol
Produced by	Zaynê Akyol Sylvain Corbeil Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre
Cinematography	Arshia Shakiba Nicolas Canniccioni
Edited by	Mathieu Bouchard-Malo
Music by	Roger Tellier-Craig
Production company	Metafilms
Distributed by	Maison 4:3
Release date	April 13, 2022 (2022-04-13) (Visions du Réel)
Running time	128 minutes
Country	Canada
Languages	Kurdish English Arabic French German

Release

The film premiered on April 13, 2022 at the Visions du Réel film festival in Switzerland.^[3] It had its Canadian premiere at the 2022 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Reception

Critical response

Rojek has an approval rating of 100% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 5 reviews, and an average rating of 7.8/10.^[4]

Awards

At Hot Docs, the film won a Special Jury Prize from the Best Canadian Feature Documentary jury.^[2]

It was a Prix Iris nominee for Best Documentary Film at the 25th Quebec Cinema Awards in 2023.^[5] It also received nominations for Best Cinematography in a Documentary (Nicolas Canniccioni, Arshia Shakiba) and Best Editing in a Documentary (Mathieu Bouchard-Malo).^[5]

The film was shortlisted for the Rogers Best Canadian Documentary Award at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2023.^[6]

See also

• List of submissions to the 96th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
• List of Canadian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film