Beritans - Kurdish Nomads

by Küdret Günes

Turkey

Director: Küdret Günes

Cinematographer: Jean-Marie Boulet

Editing: Luc Forveille

Sound: Michel Galindo

Sound Mix: Alexandre Lorin

Music: Dilovan, Les Bergers Béritans

Voice Over: Anne Buffet

Production:
TV10 Angers
Couleur Films
Jean-Marie Boulet
42 bis, rue de Lourmel
75015 Paris
France
Tel: 0033 1.56.81.18.06
Fax: 0033 1.56.91.18.07
Mail: [email protected]

Year: 2004

DVCAM, Colour, 66 min
OV with French Subtitles

Unreleased
World Premiere

In 1980, the war breaks out between the Turkish army and the PKK, the Labour Party in Kurdistan. The Kurd combatants find refuge in the mountains to fight the Turkish army. From 1990 to 2000,Turkey forbade the nomads to come to these places. In the valley, shepherds lose their flock dying of heat. Destitution pushes them to leave for Europe or big cities. At that time, the woman nomad is the most affected by the war. In February 2000 when war ends, the few thousand Beritans start transhumance again, a few goats and sheep move to summer pastures in the mountains of Bingöl. These nomads are not much aware of the rest of the world, they farm and live in ancient traditions. The status of woman is still very fragile.

“In this film, I tried to depict the suffering of the woman nomad. A woman who is often battered by her close relatives, a woman who has no value in the eyes of man, a woman who has to walk a step behind a man”. Küdret Günes