No Paradise If You Are Killed By A Woman (2026) Venice 2026

One of the greatest characters in any film.

NO PARADISE IF YOU ARE KILLED BY A WOMAN is quite simply one of the greatest films of 2026. Period, full stop.

The film is the story of Vyan, a Kurdish woman who is acting as a sniper  fighting the Islamic State in the Mosul of 2016. When she gets word that her younger sister might still be alive, she begins a deadly hunt through the city to find her.

I have left a huge amount of details out. I have done that on purpose because you will want to see how this unfolds for yourself.

While the film is a large part a thriller, the truth is this is a film that is really a look at war, what it does to soldiers and more importantly what war and religious fundamentalism does to women and non-believers. What is so stunning about the film is that the film keeps things tense and the audience on the edge of its seat by giving us things to think about while making us wonder who is going to live and who is going to die.

The first 20 minutes of this film is one of the most arresting openings of any film this year. The film opens with Vyan moving through some ruins on the hunt for a target. Its a perfectly constructed series of set pieces that pull us in and drag us along. Its at this point the film changes into something else, before changing again. Its a film that never does what we expect. No turn is exactly as we thought.  Most importantly the film never loses track of the woman at the center of the film. As she goes through the ringer so do we. I wanted to look away but I couldn't leave Vyan at any point in her journey. Vyan is one of the greatest heroes ever to grace the screen and we want her to compete her mission and go home

When the end came I was exhausted and broken because of what I witnessed because the tension was so high.

Based on the stories of several women who fought against the Islamic State and inspired by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, the film is more real than pretty much every other war film. Perhaps it helps that it was filmed in Mosul so what we see is what we get.

I was rocked.  When it ended I jumped on line and sent out emails to people putting the film on their radar.

I can't express just how magnificent this film is. Its an action film that says volumes about warfare and what it does to everyone it touches. Its a film that makes us feel pain as much as suspense.

You absolutely must see this.

This will be one of the best films you will see this year.

Addendum: This film was picked as Iraq's entry for the Oscars