A157

9.0 10
2015
69min

Kurdish

English Catalan

Country: Iran

Original Title: Osa 157 (1995)

In a refugee camp on the border between Syria and Turkey, sisters Hailin and Roken and their friend Soolaf, three young Kurdish teenagers who survived ISIS captivity, share their testimonies from inside tent A157. Director Behrouz Nouranipour filmed over multiple periods in the cold, waterlogged camp, allowing the young women to recount the abuses committed against them and their families. The film follows Hailin's pregnancy as she confronts deeply conflicted feelings about the child conceived against her will.

Kurdish
English Catalan
Country: Iran
Original Title: Osa 157 (1995)

AWARDS
Signes de Nuit. Best Film and Signs Award
Cinéma Vérité. Special Jury Award
Watch Docs. Best Documentary
Religion Today Film Festival. Best Documentary Award
Library International Film Festival of India. Special Recognition

OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
DOK Leipzig
Dhaka International Film Festival
Movies That Matter Film Festival
Festival Cinema Invisible
Fajr International Film Festival

Three Kurdish survivors bear witness inside tent A157

A157 is a Kurdish-language war documentary from Iran that places the camera inside one of the most harrowing spaces of the Syrian conflict: a UNHCR tent numbered 157, pitched at a refugee camp on the Turkey-Syria border.

What A157 is about

Sisters Hailin and Roken, orphaned by the war, and their friend Soolaf share a single tent in a cold, waterlogged camp. All three were subjected to sexual violence by ISIS fighters. Their testimonies, delivered directly to the camera, form the emotional and moral core of the film. The director concentrates on Hailin's advancing pregnancy as she wrestles with feelings about a child she did not choose. Spoken word, the film argues, is the only weapon left for those denied everything else.

Director of A157

Behrouz Nouranipour is an Iranian filmmaker who spent several extended periods inside the camp to earn the trust needed for the survivors to speak freely. He has described the ISIS violence in the film as one aspect of a wider catastrophe in which women and children are always the first and hardest-hit victims of war.

Awards and festival run

A157 collected five prizes on the international circuit, including the Best Film and Signs Award at Signes de Nuit, the Special Jury Award at Cinéma Vérité, Best Documentary at Watch Docs, Best Documentary at Religion Today Film Festival, and a Special Recognition at the Library International Film Festival of India. The film also screened in the official selection of DOK Leipzig, one of the world's leading documentary festivals.

Where to watch A157 online

A157 is available to stream on GuideDoc. GuideDoc is a curated platform dedicated to documentary film, where you can also explore further migration documentaries and social documentaries from around the world.

Related documentaries

If A157 resonates with you, GuideDoc carries several related titles on conflict, displacement, and human resilience, including #chicagoGirl: The Social Network Takes on a Dictator, Seeing Through the Darkness, and Pivden '23.