Nine women from a Turkish village in the Taurus Mountains tell about their lives. About fathers who would have preferred a son and who object to a higher education for their daughters; about mothers who have to juggle work in the fields, household duties and parenting and whose husbands commit adultery. The women tell about forced marriages and attempts to escape; about unwritten laws that so far no generation has had power to break. “I wish it was a lie, but it’s all true”, one of the women sums up the stories. In order to break the silence these women get together and write a piece of drama, “The Women’s Outcry”, based on their life experiences. They rehearse under the conduct of the local school director and work long nights under the curious gazes of the village men. In the course of the rehearsals the women develop a growing charisma and self-confidence. Nevertheless, there are disputes and the premiere in the village seems doomed to fail. In a perceptive and unobtrusive way, Istanbul-born director Pelin Esmer (*1972) accompanies the troup of amateur actresses on their path to the play’s premiere in the village.
