REBIN AHMAD

I am Rebin Ahmad. I am from Sulaimanya, the Kurdish city in the North East of Iraq. I have taken part in The Legend of Kawa the Blacksmith animated film by Splash Animations as the Narrator and also as the voice of Townsman Two.

I am working in an internet cafe shop. I spend most of my time working on computers even after work. I work in different fields within the world of computers, from working on programs, to fixing computers, but Photoshopping and design are my areas of greatest interest. I work a lot on Photoshopping and design. I also love music, as I am an ex-classical guitarist, and I attend a lot of music gigs and events around the city. However, life has not left time and space for me to continue with classical guitar. I have a lot of interests, like everyone else in society, however these are my hobbies at this period of my life. In the future, I would like to work in a group to work on animated films, design etc to be able to have the opportunity to serve society in general with my talents and hobbies.

Working in this production was quite challenging for me as it was first time I had narrated or generally participated in an animated film. It was great taking part in this production because I have learned and benefited from the experience. One of the great advantages was the language that is used in this film, which could be seen as a first step forward toward one Kurdish standard language. My dialect is Sorani, but working with people from other regions can be quite hard as the dialects do differ a lot from each other. However the language that was set up for this film has mixed dialects from Sorani to Bahdini and Kurmanji, and that helped me to understand the other Kurdish dialects and languages of other Kurdish regions. The linguistic techniques that are used are amazing and I believe not just me, but all the Kurdish people who have taken part in this production have benefited from this side of the film, therefore it also became a learning process for us.

As narrator, my role was to keep the audiences in tune with the story line, keep them updated and also try to create expectations in them on the events happening in the film. Also I had to keep them interested while telling the story. As narrator you always have to make this friendly relation with them to keep them posted, updated and their expectations high. No matter how cruel you may be by talking about an event from one of the more tragic scenes, you still have to make that friendly relation to keep the communication with the audience.

The animation world is huge and I think it is the genre where filmmakers and all those working in it have to concentrate the hardest. It’s very hard work creating all the 3D characters, Kurdish clothes, Kurdish cultural materials etc, and, because this film has been made here in the UK, it has been a lot harder creating those cultural materials etc.

A lot of hard work has gone into making this film. It deserves hard work, and Havi and Stu, and the cast, are definitely dedicated to the roles and responsibilities of filmmaking.

The reason for that dedication is that throughout the history of Kurdish films, there has not been one animated film ever - this is the first Kurdish animated film, which will stay in the memory of Kurdish film history, and for the first time Kurdish people will own an animated film just like any other nation around the globe.