Ölü Ekmeği

Drought and poverty shape this region of Anatolia on the hilly plains above the valleys where Mustafa tends his sheep. Though as an ashik he's unlikely to grow rich, he will be able to determine his own fate. The learning process is arduous however, so much so that he sometimes flees back to his old existence, rushing from one feast to another at weddings and funerals, where something to eat can always be found. With first love however comes hunger mixed with desire, and uncertainty with longing, all of which provides material for sad songs, unfinished stories and a film like this, which winds its way through the soul of Anatolia like a path of dreams, from tradition to tradition, at once earthly and mythical. A timeless allegory on poverty and the process of growing up, as well as an experiment with the fragments of a centuries-old culture that, despite the poetry, remains objective to the last.