Rojin is a young Kurdish-Iraqi woman about to take the university entrance exam. Rojin’s unhappily married older sister Shilan decides to help her pass at any cost, hoping to give her a more emancipated life. Thus, the sisters inevitably become entangled in a huge network of corruption that connects all parts of society. THE EXAM won the FIPRESCI Critics Award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2021.

“It is in this respect that the film approaches the issue of women’s rights more comprehensively, provocatively, and loosely than many other works that unquestioningly define the desire for personal emancipation through the characters of suffering women, cutting the chains of a ruthless patriarchy.” (from the FIPRESCI jury’s justification for the award)

Shawkat Amin Korki was born in 1973. Originally from Zakho, Iraqi Kurdistan, he and his family fled from Iraqi military oppression to Iran in 1975, where they lived in exile for 25 years. He studied Cinema in Iran and gained international recognition in 2006 with his debut feature film CROSSING THE DUST, which premiered at Rotterdam International Film Festival. His greatest success to this date has been MEMORIES ON STONE, the official 2014 Oscar entry from Iraq.

Filmography: 2006 CROSSING THE DUST, 2009 KICK OFF, 2014 MEMORIES ON STONE, 2021 THE EXAM

Awards: FIPRESCI Critics Award for Best Film in Competition (Karlovy Vary Film Festival/Czech Republic 2021)