Once Upon a Time

Eric Glijnis, Kazim Öz
Turkey | OmeU

While its title leads us to expect a tall tale, Once Upon a Time imme­di­ate­ly foils that expec­ta­tion. In obser­va­tion­al cinema mode, we follow a large family of Turk­ish Kurds on a long trek to Ankara, where back­break­ing toil in the let­tuce fields awaits. With rare energy and spon­tane­ity, the film­mak­er shows us the hor­ri­ble exploita­tion of Kur­dish sea­son­al work­ers, as well as the good nature and strength of the film’s colour­ful pro­tag­o­nists. There is a rad­i­cal shift in tone when the film­mak­er seizes the oppor­tu­ni­ty pre­sent­ed by blos­som­ing love between a Kur­dish Romeo and Juliet, immers­ing us in a riv­et­ing story – part tender, part cruel. A fable that causes shiv­ers and a suc­cess­ful mar­riage of soci­o­log­i­cal obser­va­tion and seri­ous nar­ra­tive ambi­tions. (RIDM, Montréal)

 

In cooperation with FAIRburg e.V. and Türk HOG e.V.