XALKO

 Director: SAMİ MERMER-HIND BENCHEKROUN

 Time: 100’

 Year of Production: 2018

 Language: KURDÎ-TIRKÎ

 Subtitle: TIRKÎ-INGILIZÎ-KURDÎ

 Synopsis

In the heart of Anatolia in Turkey lies the Kurdish village of Xalko. Director Sami Mermer, like many others, returns to visit his birthplace after migrating to the West. He discovers that Xalko is mostly made up of women and a handful of remaining men. Together with his directing partner Hind Benchekroun, he introduces us to the “other side” of migration. Thanks to the directors’ closeness with the women they filmed, Xalko offers not only a portrait of a way of life threatened by migration but also a touching portrait of strong women who continue their lives without men.

Biography

Sami Mermer is a Kurdish filmmaker. He began his career as a cinematographer (Taxi Casablanca, The Concert of Voices) before transitioning to directing with the 2006 feature-length documentary Lanzo’s Box, which focuses on homelessness in the United States. He also directed two short fiction films, Exit and The Passenger, and was a co-writer and assistant director for the award-winning film Ax (The Land). Alongside director Hind Benchekroun, he co-directed and co-produced the documentaries Turtles Don’t Die of Old Age (2011) and Callshop Istanbul (2016), both of which were widely screened. Xalko (2018) is their third co-directed project.