On the evening of March 8, International Women's Day, thousands of women convened on Istanbul's Istiklal Avenue. Several hours prior in a makeshift theater housed in an unassuming apartment building just a few minutes away, eight films by female directors were shown to a packed room.
The screenings took place on the third day of Istanbul's first Kurdish Film Festival, celebrating Kurdish female film directors on this annual women's day. And unlike the march on Istiklal Avenue that evening, which was roughly dispersed by police using tear gas against the demonstrators, the festival went off without a hitch.
