Were Dengê Min

In a remote Kurdish village in the mountains little Jiyan is worried about her father who has been arrested by the Turkish police as a suspected guerilla. He will only be released when his family surrenders his gun. The problem is: he has never possessed one. And so Jiyan’s grandmother Berfé has no choice but to set off in search of a weapon. A long march on foot leads Berfé and Jiyan through breathtakingly beautiful mountains to their relatives and beyond, into the unknown. On their journey Berfé displays courage and tenacity and Jiyan learns what it takes to survive in the adult world. With remarkable serenity the film depicts a life in which being subjected to sanctions and humiliating controls is almost a daily occurrence. Yet warmth and quiet humour also pervades this intricate odyssey. Grandmother and grandchild meet traditional storytellers and become a part of their narratives as well as themselves contributing to the poetic weave of this multi-layered film.