The Phantom Pain of Rojava is a story about friendship after war set in Rojava, an autonomous Kurdish state in Northern Syria. Here a group of women and men live together in a house for wounded soldiers. Many are amputees and most are survivors of the war against ISIS. Central to this story are four friends–Sorkhin, Zarin, Rojda and Fa-dakar–who all were severely injured in battle but miraculously survived. Bringing a personal touch, director Maryam Ebrahimi depicts the hope and dreams of Kurdish guerrillas who once were the heroes of the world but now stand abandoned in their struggle for equality and self rule.

The Phantom Pain of Rojava was supported through Maryam Ebrahimi’s 2021 Chicken & Egg Award.