The Exam

Original title: Ezmûn
Genre: Drama
Director: Shawkat Amin Korki
Country: Iran, Qatar, Germany
Year of production: 2021
Czas: 89 min

Awards and nominations:
 2022 Santa Barbara International Film Festival: Jeffrey C. Barbakow International Cinema
2022 Castellinaria International Festival of Young Cinema: Three Castles
2021 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize

Only education will set you free. It’s the only way to achieve something and avoid getting stuck or languishing. This is what a Kurdi named Shilan (played by Avan Jamal) thinks. And she very well knows it’s true. She got stuck in an unhappy arranged marriage herself, so she will do anything to spare her younger sister Rojin (Vania Salar) similar fate. The only way is to study, but in order to enrol at university one must pass a difficult exam. To help her sister do that Shilan must cheat. Answers to the exam questions and a communication system connecting candidates with someone whispering the answers cost a huge amount of money. Still, there are many willing to do it; even whole families participate in the scheme. Shilan does everything in her power, too. She sells jewellery, her only property. And when she’s forced by the situation, she engages in unethical operations of the exam underground. Despite enormous stress, in the beginning everything goes according to plan. It all falls apart, however, when a determined teacher steps in and undertakes a mission to uncover the irregularities. Rojin’s fate hangs by a thread.
In this suspenseful yet full of quirky humour drama, director Shawkat Amin Korki asks whether one can realise their ambitions by living someone else’s life, and whether it’s possible to justify a fraud when there’s no chance of success in a corrupted society.

Author: Agata Gogołkiewicz
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Shawkat Amin Korki – he was born in Iraqi Kurdistan which is always present in his work. He lived in exile in Iran for many years. After coming back to his homeland, he directed and produced his first feature “Crossin the Dust” (2006) which won many international awards. His next films, “Kick Off” (2009) and “Memories on Stone” (2014), were also recognised at international film festivals.