KOLKATA: Hours after US President Donald Trump tweeted “All is well!” on Tuesday night, following Iran’s firing of missiles on Iraqi facilities hosting US-led coalition personnel, a film unit was travelling from Iraq to Syria, crossing the Sêmalka border. Two months back, the trio was in Kolkata for the world premiere of their Kurdish film, ‘ The End Will Be Spectacular ’, at the 25th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF).On New Year’s Eve, the national premiere of their film — which depicts the real 100-day struggle of Kurdish youth fighting to protect their neighbourhood amid a Turkish government crackdown in 2016 — and which received a standing ovation at KIFF, got banned in Iraq. It was scheduled to happen in Sulaymaniyah. But it got cancelled to “protect the security and stability of the city”. Now, the Rojava film commune will organise the premiere.The internet connection is patchy and when the call gets through, director Ersin Çelik, actor Şêro Hindê and producer Diyar Hesso are near the city of Dêrik. They hop out of the car and take a stroll near the banks of the Tigris. It is a break in their 485km journey by car. They were to take a flight from Doha to Erbil in Iraq. But that got delayed due to the bombings. “We could only take off once the bombings stopped,” Hesso says. On Wednesday, they reached the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Down the road was the Bardarash refugee camp. “That’s where one of the missiles hit. But it was not very close,” he says.Ask them if the constant threat of war makes it difficult for them to sleep at night, and their reaction is surprising. “What’s happening is wrong. But, for us, all this has been happening for a long time. So you learn to overcome these adversities. When we travel, we are aware of thousands of possibilities. Bombings can happen. War can break out. We try to figure out what the Americans or Iranians are doing. It is crazy,” Hesso admits, accepting that life has to go on and that there won’t be a massive war anytime soon. “It will be difficult for all the people in this area and will spell disaster for the interest of any country.”The January 3 assassination of Iranian general Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad has had an impact on them. According to Hesso, the killing will “influence” the whole region. “It might start a one-day or two-day war. But neither Iran nor the allies in the region want a war. The Americans had wanted to shift the axis of the war from the Syrian to the Iranian territory. I do not believe any force in the region wants a war with Iran. It is America pushing everyone all the time. Suleimani’s killing is a declaration of America to start a war,” he points out. However, he believes that Iranians will be wiser and avoid being instigated. “Interestingly, Iran has bombed from the Kurdish region in Iran to the Kurdish region in Iraq. I believe it was done to send a message to the Kurds in Iraq who don’t want to take sides,” he adds.It starts drizzling once the three hop on to the car and cross the Tigris. Video of their trip shows a blurry road ahead. Is travelling in Iraq difficult now? “It is not that difficult travelling in the Kurdish parts of Iraq. It is not wise to travel by plane. We are travelling by car. But the situation is stressful because everyone is expecting a war,” Çelik says.Any mention of Trump, expectedly, generates a strong reaction. According to Hesso, Trump is an image and a “reflection of how badly managed the contemporary global system now is”. They insist that it would not have been possible to have a president like Trump unless the decade earlier had paved the way for the rise of people like him. “If there was a powerful Left struggle around the world, such presidents wouldn’t exist,” Hesso analyses. Çelik and Hindê keep it short. “Unfortunately, the world is ruled by gangsters!” they say, almost in unison.As the car moves inside Rojava, they are overjoyed. Because of security reasons, they hadn’t been able to announce the Rojava premiere dates earlier to avoid the risk of bombing. Now, they sound optimistic. “We are back in Rojava. This is where we shot the film and will be screening it, too. Despite everything, we are happy. After all, we have to be strong to be able to continue,” Hindê signs off.