Being Strong Is Hard

The film comprises a barrage of images of Kurdish activists, journalists and fighters – mostly women – facing the camera, often smiling. Scored to rapid electronic music, this visual onslaught echoes the sensory overload of contemporary media. While the similarity of portraits, whose low resolution raises its own political questions, encourages instant parsing, the sight of young women in uniform slows down our perception, inviting us to interrogate the meaning of these smiles and poses.