Director Abedin Mahdavi will start producing “Avina,” a film about the children in the war-torn area of Kobani in Syria.
The movie is in the pre-production stage and is going through the final stages of casting. The antiwar film is to be shot partly in Iran and Kobani, a former war-ravaged town near the Syrian border, ISNA reported on its Persian website.
Produced, written and directed by Mahdavi, the film tells the story of a child rescued from the conflict zone. It is based on true events that occurred during the fight against the self-styled Islamic State terror group.
Mahdavi, 36, is a freelance photojournalist and international reporter whose main subjects are children of war. He is the founder of an international artists group called “Holy Children Group” and has directed four documentaries about children in war-afflicted countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Ethiopia.
The small city of Kobani is located in Syria’s Kurdish border with Turkey. Prior to war, Kobani had a population of close to 45,000. The majority of inhabitants were Kurds, with Arab, Turkmen, and Armenian minorities.
From September 2014 to January 2015, the city was under siege by the terrorist group and its mercenaries. Most of the city was destroyed as the population fled to Turkey. However a year later many returned and reconstruction began.
