Turtles Can Fly (2004)

7.7 | Sep 10, 2004 (IR) | Drama | 01:38

suicide rape muslim refugee village landmine tank bicycle iraq dead child soldier kurdistan children in wartime

Budget: N/A | Revenue: 1 075 462

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.

Featured Crew

Bahman Ghobadi

Director, Producer, Production Design, Screenplay

Abbas Ghazali

Executive Producer

Hossein Alizadeh

Original Music Composer

Shahram Shah Hosseini

Assistant Director

Batin Ghobadi

Producer

Hayedeh Safiyari

Editor

Mostafa Kherghehpoosh

Editor

Bahman Ardalan

Sound

Shahriar Assadi

Director of Photography

Jalal Saed Panah

Assistant Director

Cast

Soran Ebrahim

Mr. Satellite (Soran)

Avaz Latif

Agrin

Saddam Hossein Feysal

Pashow

Hiresh Feysal Rahman

Hengov

Abdol Rahman Karim

Riga

Ajil Zibari

Shirkooh

Images

Reviews

griggs79

9 | Jun 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.