Jano Rosebiani (Kurdish: Cano Rojbeyani) is a Kurdish/American film director, editor and screenwriter born in 1958 in the village of Zumar and was raised in the town of Zakho in the (now autonomous) Kurdish region of Iraq. At the age of 16 he along with his family took to the mountains to join the popular Kurdish uprising of 1974, and two years later he received political asylum in the United States. Rosebiani acquired his knowledge of film making during his college years at NOVA (Northern Virginia Community College) in the mid eighties while managing movie theaters and making experimental videos for a public access television in Fairfax, Virginia. Rosebiani made his feature film debut with "Dance of the Pendulum" in 1995 ‐ a dark comedy parodying exploitation in Hollywood movies. Human rights and humanitarian themes became the staple of Rosebiani's films, perhaps as a reflection of his Kurdish background, that is, belonging to an oppressed nation. “Jiyan” (life) was his first Kurdish film made in 2001. Rosebiani had to smuggle filming equipment into the region through Turkey, and later smuggled the footage out to Belgium where he did the post production.