Sisters in Arms

Üç Yakın Arkadaş / Drei Kameradinnen

DCP / Color / 90’
German, Kurdish; with Turkish and English Subtitles
Germany, 2026

Director: Milena Aboyan
Screenplay: Milena Aboyan
Cinematography: Mortimer Hochberg
Editing: Elias Ben Engelhardt
Cast: Bayan Layla, Manal Raga a Sabit, Brikena Ray, Meret Becker, Hadnet Tesfai
Producer: Benjamin Zerhau, Sophia Aldenhoven, Uli Aselmann
Production: die film gmbh WEST
World Sales: Arthood Entertainment GmbH

Synopsis

Milena Aboyan’s adaptation of Shida Bazyar’s acclaimed novel of the same name is a film that addresses xenophobia and the marginalization of immigrants in Germany. The lives of Saya, Kasih, and Hani—three close friends who grew up together in Germany as children of immigrant families from different countries—are shaken by an arson attack. Even after going their separate ways, the bond between the three close friends, who give the film its original title, has always remained alive due to the impact of the discrimination they faced while growing up because of their origins. Years later, they come together for a wedding; however, their friendship undergoes an unexpected test when Saya is arrested on suspicion of arson at an apartment building where a far-right activist lives. During the investigation, while it is debated whether Saya is a radical left-wing activist or a fundamentalist, what is real and what is fabricated blur together. In this striking narrative, audiences try to reach the truth within a labyrinthine structure without getting lost among the characters’ memories, the roles society assigns to them, and the manipulative language of the media. Director Milena Aboyan was highly courageous in bringing the sharp and uncompromising “female rage” of the novel to the screen. Sisters in Arms stands as a cry against the social norms that expect immigrant women to be constantly submissive, grateful, and silent, while questioning for whom and how justice functions.

Screenings