Newsletter September 2025

On September 6, the Goethe-Institut Irak and the al-Mada Reading Club invite you to the regular events of the reading club in Erbil.

The event is a cooperation between the Goethe-Institut Irak and the al-Mada Reading Club and will take place at 6 PM at the Nazdar Hayran Café in Erbil.

The event is held in Arabic.

On Fridays, literature and culture enthusiasts gather on Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad. On the last Friday of every month at 11 AM, the Goethe-Institut Irak and al-Mada invite guests to their regular Chai Talk at the al-Mada House.

The Chai Talk is a series of events organised by the Goethe-Institut Irak and the Mada Group for Media, Culture and Art.

On 24 August, the Heritage at School initiative was launched, a project to promote culture, art and tourism in schools in the province of Nineveh. The Goethe-Institut Irak is supporting the educational initiative in cooperation with the Nineveh Directorate of Education and the Volunteer with us Foundation.

The aim of the project is to raise awareness among students of the rich cultural heritage of their region. Creative workshops, teaching materials on local sights, teacher training and excursions to archaeological sites such as the Al-Nuri Mosque and the Lamassu enable hands-on learning.

More than 100 teachers, 25 schools and several thousand students will benefit directly from the initiative. As a result, cultural education will be strengthened and a vivid connection to their own history will be created.

This year's Design Academy will take place in Sulaimaniyah from September 15 to 26, 2025. For ten days, designers, artists and creative minds from Iraq will explore the question: How can knowledge in libraries be made visually accessible? How can poetry and publishing open up new forms of expression in design? And what stories emerge when visual storytelling is combined with local Skate culture?

In three parallel workshops, participants will experiment with these topics, try out new ways of working and develop innovative results through joint exchange. The aim is to produce a publication that will be presented at the end of the Academy as part of a public event. The programme will be complemented by lectures, discussions, excursions and a cyanotype workshop.

Design Academy Iraq 2025 is a project of the Goethe-Institut Irak, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and is being carried out in partnership with the University of Bremen and the University of Sulaimaniyah.

Attention film lovers: from September 18 to 24, the Goethe-Institut Erbil and the Institut Français d'Irak à Erbil invite you to the German-French Film Week at the Hawler Cinema (Royal Mall). Four films from Germany and France will be shown, telling stories of friendship, identity, loss and hope.

Admission is free. All films will be shown in their original language with Kurdish subtitles.

The 15th edition of the Kurdish Film Festival Berlin, taking place from September 25 ​​​​​to October 1, 2025, is dedicated to ethnic and religious minorities in Kurdistan, including Ezidis, Alevis, Jews, Zazas and other communities.

As in previous years, filmmakers from the region will be invited to Berlin to share their stories and perspectives with an international audience. In addition to the diverse film programme, visitors can also look forward to an additional exhibition.

The Goethe-Institut supports the festival in its commitment to raising awareness of Kurdish culture and diversity.

Now in its fourth edition, the Goethe-Institut Irak and the Institut Français d'Irak à Erbil are celebrating the diversity of European languages together.

Come to the Goethe-Institut Irak on the ETTC Compound on September 27 from 4 PM, learn your first sentences in new languages, test your knowledge in games and take part in the varied program.

The Goethe-Institut Irak is expanding its range of exams: for the first time, official German exams will also be held in Baghdad in October 2025.

Goethe Certificate A1: 21 October 2025
Goethe Certificate B1: 22 October 2025

Registration is now open. The offer is aimed at anyone interested in certifying their German language skills, whether for study, work or personal development.

Further information on the exams and registration can be found on our website.

On August 3 it was time for 8 German Language learners from the PASCH schools in Iraq to pack their bags! During a three-week study trip to Germany, the young students took part in language courses and cultural events in Pforzheim together with PASCH students from all over the world.

The initiative “Schools: Partners for the Future” (PASCH) connects a global network of more than 2,000 PASCH schools with special ties to Germany. The Goethe-Institut supports around 600 PASCH schools in the national education systems of over 100 countries.