Turtles Can Fly tells the story of a group of young children near the Turkey-Iraq border. They clean up mines and wait for the Saddam regime to fall.
Soran Ebrahim
Mr. Satellite (Soran)
Avaz Latif
Agrin
Saddam Hossein Feysal
Pashow
Hiresh Feysal Rahman
Hengov
Abdol Rahman Karim
Riga
Ajil Zibari
Shirkooh
Director
Bahman Ghobadi
Writers
Bahman Ghobadi
Hossein Alizadeh
Original Music Composer
Shahriar Assadi
Director of Photography
Mostafa Kherghehpoosh
Editor
Hayedeh Safiyari
Editor
Bahman Ghobadi
Production Design
griggs79
6/23/2025
_Turtles Can Fly_ is a haunting anti-war film set in a Kurdish refugee camp before the 2003 Iraq invasion. Shot with real refugee children, it captures displacement with raw authenticity. “Satellite,” a savvy teen, leads landmine-clearing kids with dry humour and grit. The performances, shaped by lived trauma, hit hard. The final moments are devastating but never exploitative. Not an easy watch—unforgettable and vital.
