Kurdish Norwegian director Halkawt Mustafa’s new feature film No Paradise If You Are Killed by a Woman, starring Avan Jamal and Thorbjørn Harr, will have its world premiere at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, the Norwegian Film Institute said in a press release.

The film has been selected as a Midnight Film in the festival’s official Venice Open/Out of Competition program.

The Venice International Film Festival is one of the world’s oldest film festivals. This year, it will take place from September 2–12, 2026.

“It is a great honor to have the world premiere of my film in Venice. This story has stayed with me for many years and is inspired by the Kurdish women who refused to yield to the darkness in the fight against ISIS,” said Mustafa.

The film follows Vyan, a Kurdish sniper. When she learns that her younger sister, who has been missing since the ISIS assault in 2014, may still be alive, she returns to Mosul. Her search becomes both a rescue mission and a confrontation with the trauma she has tried to suppress.

The story is inspired by a female Peshmerga sniper whom Mustafa met on the front line in 2014. The film was shot on location in Mosul, Iraq.

Mustafa’s previous films include El Clásico and the documentary Hiding Saddam Hussein.