The Gorani Kurds living in the Hawraman region of Iran continue to keep a millennium-old tradition alive today. Every winter, the people gather to commemorate Pir Shaliyar, who lived in the village of Uraman Taht in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains, and ritually re-enact his legendary wedding. Inspired by the region’s deep-rooted culture, this ceremony, interwoven with prayers and dhikr, is repeated annually as a spiritual journey that has survived through the ages.

The documentary “The Wedding of Pirs” aims to re-visualize the centuries-old Pir Shaliyar wedding ritual through contemporary cinematic language. During the filming process, we traveled to the region where the ceremony took place and established direct contact with the people who live this culture. We listened to their stories, witnessed their daily lives, and recorded the entire process in its natural form. The film is not merely a recording of a ritual; it also examines the place of this tradition in the collective memory of the people, its connection to faith, and the way it has been carried forward into the present. We constructed a multi-layered visual and narrative structure through ancient motifs, traditional clothing, dances, prayers, and the symbols used in the ceremony. We treated these elements not merely as decorative elements but as carriers of a belief and cultural identity. Filmed with an ethnographic perspective, this film connects the traces of the past with the stories of the present while also aiming to create a visual memory that will be passed on to the future. The limited number of film studies produced in this field to date has further motivated us to document this tradition with an original and meticulous cinematographic approach. As a documentary that brings to the audience the timeless story of a culture, a belief, and a collective memory, “The Wedding of the Pirs” aims to offer a new contribution to the field of ethnographic cinema.