The Exam

• Shawkat Amin Korki
• 89 min
• Iraq, Germany, Qatar
• 2021
• Fiction

Nerve-pinching Iraqi-Kurdish thriller-drama about two sisters who are drawn deeper and deeper into a skein of corruption as they search for liberation and education.

If Rojin does not pass the test for admission to the university, an arranged wedding awaits. Her unhappily married sister, Shilan, decides to desperately help her younger sister, whatever the cost, both financial and moral. The first visit to the man who has everything needed for professional cheating leads further to a chain of lies and fraud, where the unavoidable catastrophe closes in. Shawkat Amin Korki, (Iraq’s Oscars contribution Memories on Stone, GFF 2015) explores an unusual subject in Middle Eastern film, in this drama of everyday life, which transforms into a thriller about corruption in a young country and how old traditions can make young people completely desperate.

- Freddy Olsson

• Drama
• Religion
• Feminism
• Samhälle