Namak Khoshnaw

Director/Producer Namak Khoshnaw was born in Northern Iraq to a Kurdish family and arrived in the UK as a refugee in 2002. He is now a UK citizen having been granted asylum. Obtained his MA degree at the University of West London in film and Art, current PhD candidate at university of Leicester doing (The Filmmaker's Predicament: On ISIS and Media ) He has been able to produce numerous compelling documentaries for the BBC that uncovered the plight of the Iraqi people living under Islamic State rule. Amongst his work is the harrowing documentary titled (Slaves of the Caliphate ) which tells the story of Yazidi women held as sex slaves by ISIS fighters, the film was broadcaster internationally in 2014 and Namak won New Ground Award for outstanding reporting. In 2018 Namak spent a year making, Iraq: A State of Mind documentary which explores the mental health crisis that's gripped the Iraqi people, There's only one psychiatrist for every 300,000 Iraqi people and just one psychiatric hospital in the entire country, the film addresses the deep psychological distress Iraqis are experiencing due to decades of extreme violence and personal insecurity. In 2019 the film won three awards including the Mind Media Award, Grierson and FPA for best documentary, Namak also won the journalist of year at FPA for 2019.