Quest for Honor

“We were raised to believe in resistance, persistence, and confrontation. That’s why I know I can handle anything.” So says one of the women in Quest for Honor, a searing and necessary documentary about the still-prevalent practice of honor killings in the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. Kurds number more than 26 million and are believed to be the largest ethnic group in the world without their own country. Despite much progress politically and economically, honor killings are routinely cited as the major human-rights violation among Kurds. Since 1991, statistics suggest that more than 12,000 women, mostly between 13 and 18, have met a gruesome death at the hands of relatives, usually the men of the family, who are convinced the victim has impugned the family’s honor. The film centers on cases taken up by the Women’s Media and Education Center in Sulaimaniyah, Kurdish Iraq. Texas-based photographer and author Mary Ann Smothers Bruni’s film marks her evolution from still photographer to filmmaker. While the deaths themselves are shocking in their sheer brutality, perhaps more striking is the ease with which the men involved in the killings speak about their unforgiving attitudes toward the victims. Deeply disturbing, yet profoundly hopeful, in its belief that change in centuries-old attitudes is possible, Quest for Honor asks us to imagine a day when women everywhere can live in honor, and not fear for their lives.
CAST

Mary Ann Smothers Bruni - Mary Ann Smothers Bruni's photographs and writings on Iraqi Kurdistan, ongoing since 1991, resulted in a 1994 book/exhibition journey through Kurdistan and subsequent publications/exhibitions in Bhutan, Mumbai, London, and the United States. Bruni's documentation of Texas/Mexican border culture is archived at the University of Texas Benson Latin American Collection and earned her a lazo de dama from the Order of Isabel la Catolica, awarded by Juan Carlos, king of Spain. Her books include Rosita's Christmas Wish and Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe.

Screenings:

Mon. Jan 19 3:15 p.m. - QUEST194A Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Tue. Jan 20 5:30 p.m. - QUEST20PE Prospector Square Theatre, Park City
Fri. Jan 23 10:30 p.m. - QUEST23BN Broadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC
Sat. Jan 24 12:15 p.m. - QUEST244D Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City