At 26, a Kurdish-German woman is elected the youngest mayor in Turkey – in Cizre, a Kurdish capital city that lies in the war-torn region at Turkey’s border with Syria. It is here that Leyla was born, but after her father was killed by the Turkish military, she was sent at the age of five to live in Germany. After more than 20 years, she returns home. Her goal is to heal and beautify the civil-wartorn city, which is enjoying a break in the violence. But on the eve of Turkey’s parliamentary elections, everything changes…

“In 2014, I read an article about Leyla Imret. A young woman at my age decides to return to the hometown of her parents. (…) I wanted to know more about her motivation and ambitions. (…) I knew that I had to make a film about it.” Aslı Özarslan (director)

Asli Özarslan, born in 1986 in Berlin, studied theater and media at the University of Bayreuth, as well as philosophy and sociology at the Paris-Sorbonne University. Following her graduation in 2011, she worked on film projects for ZDF and for ARD Studio Abroad in Warsaw. In 2012, she began her studies in documentary filmmaking at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. There she directed INSEL 36, which screened at several festivals. In 2014, she was recipient of the German Honorarium and in 2015 of the Honorarium of the German Academy of Arts in film and media arts.