30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

Italian premiere

It was 1985 when Ali Kayacı, Fatma's nephew, died in a domestic accident, falling into a fire while he was in the hut on the mountain pasture, at two thousand meters. The "sentence" seems to be written immediately: the responsibility for this tragedy lies with his aunt, accused of having left the boy alone. Her reaction is to leave the village and to no longer want to see any of her relatives or her neighbours. The woman withdraws to live in a stone house, on the high mountain pastures, and begins to plant trees. She names each one for her nephew, Ali, continuing her work until she has created a lush forest, opposing anyone who wants to come and clear it.  In her microcosm of pain, Fatma mows the hay, cultivates the garden, goes to make wood for the hearth which blackens with smoke the miserable room where she eats, sleeps and works, in a solitude that seems to have no escape. In front of the cameras, for the first time, Fatma tells her painful story .

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  Orhan Tekeoğlu

  A graduate of Gazi University, he worked as a journalist for 25 years. His first documentary, Ifakat (2007), won an awarded at the TRT Documentary Competition in 2011. His first feature film, I loved you so much (2013) won the film award for Best Foreign Film in Canada and at the Portobello Film Festival. In 2020 he directed 7 Kybeles.