A documentary about British-Kurdish filmmaker and activist, Mehmet Aksoy

 An Introduction to our project

Our short documentary Mehmet Aksoy: The War Continues documents the life of Mehmet Aksoy, who was a British-Kurdish filmmaker, a leading figure within the UK’s Kurdish community and an activist. Mehmet was tragically killed on 26th September 2017 at the age of 32 while documenting the war between Kurdish forces and ISIS in Raqqa, northern Syria.

Our small crew of six are all 3rd Year Television Production students at Middlesex University and our documentary is our final year dissertation project. With your help, we can bring this project to life.

Our Motivations for making this documentary

We want to ensure a long-lasting legacy for Mehmet Aksoy, a leading member of the Kurdish community here in the UK. The War Continues will tell his story, shining a spotlight on who he was as a person, a filmmaker, and a fighter for his beliefs.

We hope that by making this film we can continue to raise awareness for the Kurdish people and Kurdistan, and continue to spread the message that Mehmet Aksoy worked so hard to share.

Mehmet’s ‘weapon’ was his camera and through his influential films he sought to document and share the stories of Kurdish freedom fighters with the world. By documenting their reality, he hoped to play his part in both protecting and achieving freedom and justice for the Kurdish people.

Our documentary will include footage Mehmet took with his own camera during the war in Raqqa, providing our audience with an opportunity to experience what Mehmet experienced first-hand while documenting the struggles faced by Kurdish freedom fighters.

MEET OUR CREW

Berfin Bingol – Producer

Hi I'm Berfin, the Producer and I feel very honoured to be working on this project. Being brought up in a Kurdish family and community I have always seen the struggle my own people face every day. Mehmet Aksoy's story has inspired me to bring this documentary together so we can spread his message to a wider audience. I am looking forward to sharing our work with everyone. 

Rita Duarte – Director

Hi I'm Rita. I'm directing The War Continues and I'm extremely excited to be bringing this story to the screen. Conveying Mehmet's message through this documentary is of great importance and we hope to portray his beliefs as accurately and as honestly as possible. I'm very passionate about visual storytelling and I'm keen on observational/poetic style documentaries. Mehmet used his camera as a means to express himself and we hope to do justice to this notion with our work. 

Klaudia Slowik – Production Manager

Hi, I'm Klaudia. I'm the Production Manager for this project. I am passionate about factual television which is one of the reasons that I've decided to work on this documentary.

Raffael Conceicao – Director of Photography & Editor

Hi I'm Rafael. I'm the Director of Photography and the Editor for The War Continues. Mehmet inspired me with his life story and I hope we can do justice to him and his work by conveying his powerful message on screen so that it inspires others.

Aydan Banks – Sound Recordist

I'm Aydan, I have a huge passion for sound. I want to push the boundaries of sound in this documentary and create another level of emotion through the art form of sound design.

Ernestas Pudinskas - Gaffer 

Hi, I’m Ernestas. I love working on projects with great stories behind them and Mehmet's journey is a great example of this, which is why I’m working on this project. 

Our plan of action 

In order to make our documentary as compelling and engaging as possible, we aim to interview Mehmet Aksoy’s family and close friends, sharing deeper insight into his character and what he truly meant to them and the Kurdish community as a whole.

Zeynep Aksoy, the mother of Mehmet Aksoy will be interviewed alongside the Father, Kalender Aksoy and younger sister, Gonca Aksoy.

A close friend of Mehmet Aksoy, Erem, who experienced special moments with Mehmet in Raqqa will also be sharing his stories with us. 

The founder of Kurdish Film Festival, Ferhan Sterk will also be interviewed in order to gain further insight into Mehmet’s passion for filmmaking.  

BUDGET

• Copyright - £350: To pay for third party footage from press companies
• Travel - £130: Travel costs to and from locations like Luton and North London for filming and interviews (travel for five people by car for five days and one person by public transport)
• Festivals £200: Submission to six different documentary festivals - £30 per entry
• Food £100: For crew and interviewees while filming.

If we are lucky enough to exceed our funding target we will donate any additional funds to the Kurdish Community Centre in North London, where Mehmet was an active member.

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU

As a team, we are very passionate about this project and fully committed to producing a compelling documentary with high end production values and submitting the end result to as many documentary festivals as we can!

WHERE CAN YOU FIND US?

We will be posting updates on our progress with The War Continues on our Facebook page, so you can come on our journey with us.

We’re extremely grateful for any donations you may be able to contribute. If you can’t donate please share our campaign with your own contacts through whatever communication channel you have available to you. Any help you can provide will play a vital role in helping us achieve our goal!

Thank you from the Mehmet Aksoy: The War Continues crew.