The Sniper of Kobani

A tall, slim man walks the ruined city streets with a rifle nonchalantly slung over his shoulder. Haron is a Kurdish sniper and receives a very respectful welcome as he enters a hair salon. After all, he uses his rifle to protect Kobani’s inhabitants from the advancing Islamic State. The hairdresser has lots of questions, but Haron reveals little and heads back to work. We see him hiding behind walls, and from time to time he fires a shot. In the meantime, he reflects on his life as a sniper. He explains his solitary job, his dreams and nightmares. Snipers need a mathematical mind as it’s all about distance to the target, how fast the latter is moving and taking wind speed into account. When the Kurdish-Dutch filmmaker Reber Dosky returned to the Netherlands, the footage he’d shot hadn’t survived the trip, so he risked his life once more and returned to Kobani to reshoot this unhurried, empathetic portrait. For the people at the hair salon Haron remains an enigma, but he has certainly borne his soul to the viewer.